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COLLECTIONS 



(> !• T ri E 



RHODE-ISLAND 



HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



VOL. II. 



PROVIDENCE: 

MARSHALL, BROWN AND COMPANY, 

MDCCCXXXV 



OFFICERS 

OF THE 

RHODE-ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

ELECTED JULY 19, 1834. 

JOHN ROWLAND, President; 

WILLIAM HUNTER, First Vice-President; 

JOHN BROWN FRANCIS, Second Vice-President; 

THOMAS H. WEBB, Secretary; 

JOHN R. BARTLETT, Treastirer; 

ALBERT G. GREENE, Cabinet Keeper of the J^orlhern 

District; 
BENJAMIN B. HOWLAND, Cabinet Keeper of the 

Southarn District. 

TRUSTEES. 

WILLIAM R. STAPLES, 
DAVID BENEDICT, 
JOSEPH L. TILLINGHAST, 
STEPHEN BRANCH, 
THOMAS F. CARPENTER, 
WILLIAM E. RICHMOND, 
ALBERT G. GREENE, 
GEORGE BAKER, 
JOHN CARTER BROWN, 
ROMEO ELTON, 
USHER PARSONS, 
STEPHEN GOULD. 

PUBLISHING COMMITTEE, 

Elected bij the Trustees, Juhj 19, 1833. 
ALBERT G. GREENE, 
ROMEO ELTON, 
THOMAS F. CARPENTER 



f 



CIRCULAR 



The Society would call the attention of members and correspondents, Xo 
the following subjects : 

1. Topographical Sketches of towns and villages, including an account of 
their soil, agriculture, manufactures, commerce, natural curiosities and stat- 
istics. 

2. Sketches of the history of the settlement and rise of such towns and 
villages; and of the introduction and progress of commerce, manufactures, 
and the arts, in them. 

3. Biographical Notices of original settlers, revolutionary patriots, and 
other distinguished men who have resided in this State. 

4. Original letters and documents, and papers illustrating any of these 
subjects; particularly those which shew the private habits, manners or pur- 
suits of our ancestors, or arc connected with the general history of this 
State. 

5. Sermons, orations, occasional discourses and addresses, books, pam- 
phlets, almanacs and newspapers, printed in this State; and manuscripts, 
especially those written by persons born or residing in this State. 

6. Accounts of the Indian tribes which formerly inhabited any part of 
this State, their numbers and condition when first visited by the whites, then- 
treneral character and peculiar customs and manners, their wars and trea- 
ties, and their original grants to our ancestors. 

7. The Indian names of the towns, rivers, islands, bays, and other re- 
markable places within this State, and the traditional import of those names. 

8. Besides these, the Society will receive donations of any other books, 
pamphlets, manuscripts and printed documents. 



PREFACE. 

On presenting the public with the second volume of the Collections of 
the Rhode-Island Historical Society, the Committee of Publication deem it 
proper, very briefly to state the reasons which have induced them to select 
the present work, for that purpose. 

It has been the wish of the Society, to publish, in chronological order, 
all those works of the early settlers in Rhode-Island, which contain mate- 
rials relating to the history of the State, or which would furnish means for a 
just estimate of the characters and conduct of those who were most distin- 
guished during its early periods. That course would have been adopted and 
steadily pursued, had the resources of the Society been sufficiently ample, 
or had a sufficient degree of interest in its general objects, been manifested 
by the public, to warrant such an undertaking. In the prosecution of that 
design, all the writings of Roger Williams which could answer either of 
the above purposes, would have been first republished, and have been 
followed in regular order, by those of his cotemporaries and successors. 
But with the limited degree of encouragement and assistance which the 
Society has as yet received, the course which it was so desirable to have 
pursued, and which would have added so materially to the value of the 
Collections as a whole, is known to be entirely impracticable. Such being 
the case, the Committee felt it to be their duty, to select from tlie mate- 
rials at their command, some work, not only valuable in a historical 
point of view, but which, from its own peculiar character, would prob- 
ably excite the most general interest. They were, therefore, happy to 
avail themselves of the labors of Mr. Staples, who had been for some time 
preparing for the press, an edition of Simplicity's Defence; and who, as the 
Committee were well aware, had been indefatigable in his researches for 
such materials as might, in the form of Notes and Appendixes, enhance the 
value of the work, by explaining the references and allusions which it con- 
tains, or which could throw any light upon the biography, the characters or 
motives of the individuals who are mentioned in the Narrative. This task, 
Mr. Staples has performed, fully and inipartially. He has given every au- 
thentic means of hiformation in his power, on both sides of the (piestion. 



6 

and in embodying this work, witli his additions, in the present Collections, 
the Committee have full confidence, that ^neither liimself, nor the Society, 
can be obnoxious to the slightest imputation of any other motive than a 
desire to furnish the means by which a true judgment may be formed re- 
specting facts which are of much importance in the history of this State. 

With regard to the eventual republication of this work by the Society, 
even in its original form, the Committee presume there can be but one 
opinion; and they are gratified by the opportunity of presenting it, with ad- 
ditions so interesting and extensive as those by which it is now accompanied. 

ALBERT G. GREENE, ) Committee 

ROMEO ELTON, > of 

THOMAS F. CARPENTER, ) Publication, 

Pkovidejice, April, 1835. 



SIMPLICITY'S DEFENCE 



AGAINST 



SEVEN-HEADED POLICY. 



BY SAMUEL GORTON, 

ONE OF THE FIRST SETTLERS OF WARAVICK, R. I. 



WITH NOTES EXPLANATORY OF THE TEXT: AND APPENDIXES 

CONTAINING ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THE 

WORK. 



BY WILLIAM R. STAPLES, 

Member of the R. I. Historical Society. 



PROVIDENCE: 

MARSHALL, BROWN AND COMPANY. 

MDCCCXXXV. 



Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year .1835, by RIar- 
sHALL, Brown & Co. m the Clerk's Oflice of the District Court of the 
United States, within and for the Rhode-Island District. 



WILLIAM MARSHALL & CO. 

Primer?, Provirlcnrr. 



1 N T 11 O D U C T ION. 

No task is more difficult than tliat of arriving at a just estimate of the 
character of any individual wlio has been tiie head of a party, either in pohtics 
or religion. Taia-, as true, the statements of the friends and followers of such 
an individual, and he is deserving of unmingled applause — turn to liis ene- 
mies and opponents, and every act of his life is a subject of censure and re- 
proach. If the individual were the head of a religious sect, the task is more 
difficult, than though he were only the leader of a political party. Polemi- 
cal and controversial writers are very rarely to be credited, when the charac- 
ters or opinionsof friends or enemies, are the subject of their works. If such 
an individual and all his followers are gathered to the tomb, the sect be- 
come extinct, and a long lapse of years rolled over, since their existence, 
then, is the task onerous and difficult, in the extreme. 

Such will be the task of the biographer of Samuel Gorton, lie was the 
founder of a religious sect. In an age and among a people where uniformi- 
ty to an established religion was enforced by the civil power, Gorton dared 
to think for himself, and to avow his thoughts. And such were the powers 
of his mind, or the truth of his positions, that he soon gathered a company 
who adopted and avowed his peculiar principles, notwithstanding the re- 
proaches and penalties to which such avowal subjected them. Though his 
followers cannot be called illiterate, still such were the circumstances with 
which they were surrounded, that they left but scanty written memorials, 
either of their leader or themselves. Gorton probably wrote more than all 
of them; but his writings are chiefly of a polemic or religious character, 
and contain but few allusions to himself The records of his times are ex- 
ceedingly barren of historical details; and the traditions in relation to Gor- 
ton, are few, and of but little account. His future biographer, therefore, 
must glean the greater part of his scanty materials from the cotemporary 
historians, Winthrop, ftlorton and Johnston, who were his opponents in 
religion, and leading men against him. To facilitate the labors of such bi- 
ographer, and to enable the readers of the following Narrative, more fully to 
understand the position in which affairs stood at the commencement of it, 
than they could do from the short introduction that Gorton prefixed to it, 
are the solo olijerts harl in view in this introductory sketch. 
II 



10 • 

Samuel Gorton, came to this country, from London. In one of bis print- 
ed works, he adds to his name the appellation " Gentleman:" in one con- 
veyance, he styles himself "a Citizen of London, clothier,'.' and in another, 
" Professor of the Mysteries of Christ." lie landed first in Boston, in the 
year 1636; and from that place, removed, in a short time, to Plymouth. 
Here it seems his heterodoxy in religion was first discovered. Morton, in 
" New-England's Memorial," page 203, Davis's edition, says of Gorton, 
that falling into some dispute with Mr. Ralph Smith, who was elder of the 
church there, he was summoned before the Court on the 4th of December, 
1638, to answer said Smith's complaint. He there " carried so mutinously 
and seditiously as that he was for the same, and for his turbulent carriages 
toward both magistrates and ministers in the presence of the Court, sentenaed 
to find sureties for his good behavior during the time he should stay in that 
jurisdiction, which was limited to fourteen days; and also amerced to pay a 
considerable fine." I think this must have been in 1637, and not in 1638; 
as Gorton was received an inhabitant at Aquednet or Rhode-Island, on the 
20th of June, 1638. From a remark in the commencement of the following 
Narrative, it is probable, that this fine was levied from his goods; and it is 
equally probable that the original complaint was for his heterodoxy. 

From Plymouth, Gorton removed to Rhode-Island. There he was never 
received as a purchaser, or admitted a freeman. The time of his removal 
cannot be ascertained. Morton says, that he "was sentenced to sufi"ev 
corporal punishment, by whipping," while at Rhode-Island: and Letchford 
adds, that the punishment was actually inflicted. It is a sufficient reply to 
this, that nothing of the kind appears on the records, nor even any accusa- 
tion of any crime, against him. That some of Gorton's subsequent company 
at Shawomet were banished the island, is stated in the records; and that 
may have laid the foundation for this report against Gorton himself. From 
Rhode-Island, Gorton removed to Providence; but at what time, cannot be 
ascertained, though it was before Nov. 17, 1641. He never was received 
even as an inhabitant there. Perfect freedom in religious matters was the 
distinguishing characteristic of the colony at Providence, from its first estab- 
lishment. It had no charter from the English Government, till 1644; and 
the articles of voluntary association which bound its inhabitants together, 
were A'ague and uncertain. These circumstances, together with an un- 
fortunate dispute among themselves, about the extent and divisions of 
their lands, had, before Gorton's arrival among them, divided them into 
parties, which continued to exist until a long time after Gorton's removal 
to Shawomet. Such a situation of things, well accorded with Gorton's 
views and feelings; and with his peculiar disposition, it was impossible that 



11 

lie sliould kei'p liiiiisulf aloof I'roiii boll) parlies, or be other ihan an active 
j>:irtizan, whatever party he might join. This, taken in connection with 
the facts, that he had never been received an inhabitant, or admitted a free- 
man, subjected him to great censure from his opponents. Morton in the 
page last referred to, says, he and his accomplices " carried so in outrage 
and riotously, as they were in danger to have caused bloodshed; so as the 
inhabitants, some of them, viz: Mr. Roger Williams and others, were eon- 
strained to solicit the Governor of the Massachusetts for aid, to help them 
against their insolencies." The petition here referred to, may be found in 
Appendix, No. I. It is dated Nov. 17, 1641, and is signed by only a 
small part of the colonists at Providence; and not by Williams, as stated by 
IMorten. It contains a complaint against " Samuel Gorton and his com- 
pany," who the petitioners designate as "sojourners among them;" and 
certain others, "six or seven of our townsmen, which were in peaceable 
covenants with us." Probably these "six or seven" were the leaders of 
the opposite party. The Governor of Massachusetts very properly refused 
to interfere in this quarrel, unless the petitioners would subject themselves 
to the Government either of Massachusetts or Plymouth. 

In October following, (1642) four of Providence colony having subjec- 
ted themselves and their lands to the government of Massachusetts, renew- 
ed their complaints against Gorton. Here commences the Narrative; and 
the subsequent proceedings of Massachusetts towards him and his company, 
are therein minutely detailed. 

After the return of Gorton from his confinement in Massachusetts, he 
sailed from the Dutch Plantation at New York, for England, in company 
with Randall Holden and John Greene, two of his fellow sufferers. This 
was in 1644, probably in the summer. They carried with them the Act of 
Submission of the Narragansett Indians to the English Government. On 
their arrival in England, they presented to the Commissioners of Foreign 
Plantations, appointed by Parliament, a memorial against the Colony of 
Massachusetts, for the violent and injurious expulsion of themselves and 
companions from Shawomet, as set forth in this Nanative. This memo- 
rial I have not been able to find. A copy of it was inclosed in the order 
passed by the Commissioners on the 15th of May 1646, and sent to Massa- 
chusetts. This order may he found in Appendix, No. II. On the receipt 
of it, the Colony of Massachusetts appointed IMr. Edward Winslow, one 
of the leading men in Plymouth Colony, their agent, to proceed to England. 
His commission may be found in Appendix No. Ill, and the answer of 
Massachusetts to Gorton's Memorial, 'in Appendix, No. IV. The result 
of Winslow's negotiation in this business, as given by Got. Winthrop, 
(Sav. Wint. Vol. 2. p. 317) is al&o given, in Appendix, No. V. 



12 



This Niirrative was: published while Gorton was in Englunii; and is, -m 
stated in the dedication prefixed to it, "d more particular and full relation" 
than had been embodied in the previous Memorial to the Commissioners. 
It is dated January 14, 1645—6; and was licensed to be printed, on the 
third of August following. One edition was printed in that year, and anoth- 
er in the next; a copy of each of which is now before me. The only dif- 
ferencen betwee them is in the title pages, both of which are prefixed to this 
edition. Except in the orthography of the body of the work, no alteration 
has been made. 

This narrative was answered by Winslow, in a work entitled 'Hypoc- 
risy Unmasked." I have taken unwearied pains to find this answer, with a 
view of annexing it to the present edition; but have been unsuccessful. 

Gorton remained in England, till 164S, when he returned to this country, 
and arrived in Boston, May 10. The General Court of Massachusetts, be- 
in" then in session, passed an order, that he should be apprehended. On 
his producing a letter from the Earl of Warwick, that order was recalled by 
the casting vote of the Governor, and he was allowed a week, in which to 
prepare for his departure. His company had returned to Shawomet before 
his arrival, probably on receipt of the first order of the Commissioners. 
Shawomet, under the name of Warwick, which it assumed in honor of the 
Earl of Warwick, was considered within the Providence Plantations, and 
croverned by the charter of 1644, though not named in it. The question of 
iursidiction was not, however, by any means, settled. Massachusetts per- 
sisted in her claim, till after 1651 ; when she dismissed from her jurisdiction, 
upon their own petition, the men of Providence, who by subjecting them- 
selves and lands to her Government, afforded a pretence for her interfer- 
ence. As the proceedings in relation to their dismissal, are curious, I 
have inserted them in Appendix, No. VI; and as it was pretended that all 
the acts of Massachusetts in relation to Gorton were authorized and ap- 
proved by the Commissioners of the United Colonies of iMassacliusetts, Ply- 
mouth, Connecticut and New-Haven, I have inserted in Appendix, No. 
VIT, all their '"conclusions" on the subject. 

In August 1661, the inhabitants of Warwick, addressed a letter to the 
General Court of Massachusetts, reiterating their former complaints; and 
wiving them notice that they should prosecute before the King in Council, 
unless sotne arrangement was made, satisfactory to them. This letter is in 
Appendix, No. VIII. It does not appear that the General Court took any 
order on the receipt of this letter, or that the writers of it prosecuted the 
matter, as they threatened. On the 26th of April, 1664, Charles the Sec- 
ond appointed Col. Riciiard Nichols; Sir Robert Carr, Knight; Georg« 



13 

CiUlwiiglit, Esq. ; ;iiicl Sfaniuol RlavericU, Ksci., Couiinis.sioueiri to xi.'-il lliu 
Colonies in New-England, and " to cxauiine and deteiiniiie all oonijilainls 
and appeals, in all causes and mailers as well niilitar) as criminal." In 
]\Iarcli, 166'), the inliabilanls of Warwick presented a petiiioa to tlieur 
wliicli may be found in Appendix, No. IX. Notice of this was iirobably 
immediately given to IMassachusetts. Difliculties arose between the Com- 
missioners and the General Court of that colony, which effectually hinilcr- 
od them from discharging their duties within that jurisdiction. Their right 
to hear and determine causes, was denied by the General Court. Instead, 
therefore, of answering the petition before the Commissioners, they put 
fortii wiiat they call " An Apologetical Reply" to it, which may be found 
in Appendix, No. X. Before leaving Boston, Cartwright addressed a letter 
to Gorton on the subject, which is also in the same Appendix. I have 
found a reference to a subsequent order made by all the Commissioners, on 
this subject, in August, 1665; and another to an address from Gorton to the 
King, in 1676; neither of which papers have I been able to procure. Chal- 
mers says, page 197, that Ilolden presented a petition to Charles the Sec- 
ond, which prayed " that His Majesty would please to command the Mag- 
istrates" (of Massachusetts) "to repeal the order of banishment." "That 
prince," says Chalmers, " in compassion to his aggrieved subjects, and for 
their future security from the like outrages, granted the desire of the peti- 
tion. He transmitted an order, in December, 1678, requiring the magis- 
trates of his said colony, to repeal the ordinance complained of; that the 
said persons may enjoy such liberty of free intercourse within Massachu- 
setts, as unto His Majesty's good subjects, of right, appertaineth." I pre- 
sume this order ended the troubles of the Warwick colonists. 

After (Norton's return from England, lie continued to reside at Warwick, 
until his death, which was between the 27th of November, and the K th 
of December, 1677. He had three sons, Samuel, John, and Benjamin^ 
and at least sLx daughters — Maher, who married Daniel Coles — Mary, who 
married John Sanford — Sarah, who married William Mace — Anna, who 
married John Warner, son of the John Warnerreferred to in the following 
narrative — Elizabeth, who married John Crandall, and Susannah, who mar- 
ried Benjamin Barton. Peter Greene, son of John Greene, also married a 
daughter of Gorton; yet as he died very soon after he was married, I pre- 
sume one of those just named, was his wife;; and that she subsequently 
married again. 

Gorton appears always to have had the confidence of his fellow-towns- 
men. Immediately after his return from England, he was elected one of their 
town magistrates; and during the remainder of his life, he was almost con- 



II 



iSlanlly employed iu public business, eitlier of town or colony. Against his 
moral character, nothing has ever been alleged, even by his most inveterate 
enemies. Nor would it seem, that it was in any respect impeachable; had 
it been, he never wanted enemies to blazon it abroad. The uniform confi- 
dence which was reposed in him by his fellow citizens, affords the strongest 
reason to believe, that it was so; while his frequent acceptance of public 
offices, indubitably disproves the idle charge made against him, that he was 
opposed to all magistracy. 

His opinions on religion were peculiar. It is impossible, perhaps, for any 
one at this day, fully to comprehend them. During his life, they were the 
subject of much speculation. His opponents imputed to him, religious 
tenets, which he repudiated; and in many instances, what they insist- 
ed were necessary inferences from his opinions, though denied by him 
to be such, were, without any circumlocution, set down among his 
heresies. Morton, in New-England's IMemorial, page 203, Davis's edi- 
tion, gives a summary of what he called Gorton's opinions. The first 
edition of that work was published during Gorton's life; and this summa- 
ry drew from him a reply, which may be found in Appendix, No. XI. 
Those persons who wish to exercise their talents, in unravelling the mysti- 
cism of his religious opinions, are referred to his " Incorruptible Key, com- 
posed of the 110th Psalm," printed in London, 1647; his " Saltmarsh re- 
turned from the Dead," printed in 1655; bis " Antidote against the Com- 
mon Plague of the World," printed in 1656; and his "Antidote against 
Pharisaical Teachers." These are believed to be all the works he pub- 
lished, eKcept the Narrative now re-printed. He prepared for the press, a 
Commentary on the Lord's Prayer, a manuscript consisting of several hun- 
dred pages, which is now in the possession of the Rhode-Island Historical 
Society. Allen, in his Biographical Dictionary, (article "Gorton,") says, 
that he was the author of another work, entitled, " A Glass for the people 
of New-England," printed in 1676. In Bishop's "New-England Judged," 
this is said to be the production of Samuel Grove, or Grover. That he oc- 
casionally preached at Warwick, both before and after his return from Eng- 
land, is highly probable. That he frequently preached while in England, ap- 
pears from his letter to Morton, before referred to. 

The persecution which he suflTsred for his religious opinions, did not lead 
him to be intolerant towards those who differed from him. There are but 
few who have passed through that ordeal of their faith, who have not been 
ready, as soon as they attained the power, to impose it upon others. That 
he was an enthusiast in his opinions, there can be no doubt; so were his 
opponents, in theirs. Each defended his own opinions, and attacked those 



15 



of his antagonists, witii a bitterness vvhicli would not now be tolerated; and 
each sliould be judged' not by what we ahould now deem proper, but 
by what was considered so in their times. According to the "enius 
and temper of those times, Gorton mingled nmch gall with the ink lie be- 
stowed on his adversaries; yet, when he had attained the power, it seemed 
he wanted the will to compel them to conform to him, either in faiih or 
practice. His sentiments on this subject, and also on the necessity and pow- 
er of Magistrates, may be gathered from the following extracts from the in- 
troduction to his " Incorruptible Key." " Observe," says he, " diligently 
in this treatise, that it gives all power and dominion unto the Son of God, 
both in heaven and in earth : so it also gives (notwithstanding) due author- 
ity to all civil magistrates; without which, their right cannot be given unto 
them, if their place and ollice, be not bounded within the compass and lists 
of civil things. For Christ's power and authority is spiritual; so tliat if once 
the magistrate be engaged, by virtue of that his office, to deal in the things of 
God, and to intermeddle between God and the consciences of men; he is 
then also bound over in conscience, to subdue to the uttermost of his power, 
all other civil States unto himself; and to engage them to serve and worship 
the same God he serves, whatever idol he hath set up unto himself, or his 
Levitical priests have framed and fashioned for him; and so must of necessi- 
ty, greed and endeavor after the subjecting of all civil States unto himself; 
else doth he not deal faithfully with his God. * * But keep the office of 
the magistracy, (according to sobriety) within the compass of civil things; 
that is, to have relation to whatever concerns the relation between creature 
and creature, simply as they stand in reference one unto another in that re- 
spect; and then in that way only, it is the preservation and honor of all 
States, in their several ways of rule and government. * * So that by 
how much the civil magistrate interests his office into the Gospel, as an or- 
der thereof, by so much he doth arrogate unto himself the glory of God, if 
tilings succeed well : for unto Christ it cannot be given, but as a general 
hand of Providence, which reacheth to all creatures: for his kingdom, rule 
and authority is not of this world; but is spiritual, as he himself is spiritual." 
Nor does it appear, that differences of opinion on religion, excluded 
any from his benevolence and charity. In 1656, four of the early 
Quakers arrived in Boston. Before they landed, officers were dispatched 
by the Governor, to bring them on shore. After being examined, they were 
committed to prison, there to remain till the return of the ship that brouo-ht 
them; and then, to be carried back to England; "lest," says Gorton, 
" the purity of the religion, professed in the Churches of New-England, 
should he defiled with error." There is conclu.sive evidence that Gorton 



IG 

was not a duakcr. Though ngrccing, with that sect, in the rejection of 
church ordinances, and perhaps in sonic few other points, he dilFered from 
them in many more, and in some of those deemed most essential. With 
ilie individuals imprisoned at Boston, he had no personal acquaintance. No 
sectarian views or private friendship, therefore, could have induced him to 
correspond with them. Yet on the ICth of September, 1656, he addressed 
to them the following letter: 

" Christian Friends, — The report of your demeanor, with some others of 
the same mind with you, formerly put in possession of the place of your 
present abode, as is reported to us, as also the errand you profess you come 
with, into these parts, hath much taken my heart; so that I cannot withhold 
my hand from expressing its desires after you; which present habitation of 
yours, ourselves have had a proof of, from like grounds and reasons, that 
have possessed you thereof, under which in some measure we still remain in 
point of banishment, under pain of death, out of these parts; a prohibition 
from that liberty which no Christian ought te be infringed of. And though 
we have a larger room, in bodily respects, than for present yourselves have; 
yet wc desire to see the prison doors open, before we attempt to go out, ei- 
ther by force or stealth, or by entreaty; which we doubt not but the bolts 
will fly back in the best season, both in regard of yourselves and us : but 
we apprize more of the appearance of an evident hand of God, e.xalting 
himself in his own way, than we do of our bodily livelihood : for we fear 
not the face of man, for God hath shewed us what all flesh is; otherwise we 
would visit you in the place where you remain, though we came unto you 
on our bare feet; or any that professeth the Lord Jesus, opposing his author- 
ity against all the powers of darkness. If God have brought you into these 
parts, as instruments to open the excellencies of the tabernacle, wherever 
the cloud causeth you to abide, no doubt but this your imprisonment shall 
be an efiectual preface to your work, to bring the gainsayers to nought; 
which my soul waits for, not with respect to any particular man's person, 
but with respect unto that universal spirit of wickedness gone out into 
the world, to deceive and tyrannize; and in that respect my soul saith, O 
Lord, I have waited for thy salvation: the bringing to nought of which spirit, 
i^ ever made manifest in the blessing of the tribes; for the sceptre of Israel 
is never erected but in bringing to nought the crown of pride, which Dan or 
true judgment, ever brings to nought, by our spiritual Sampson. 

" I may not presume to use a word of exhortation unto you, being 1 had 
rather (as having more need) to be admonished by you, not doubting but 
you are plentifully enabled to admonish one another: let me make bold to 
say thus much to myself. Stand stilK and behold the salvation of the Lord : 



17 

we are persona who lie here as buried unto tlie sons of men, in a corner of the 
earth; grudged at, that we have this present burying place : But our God 
jnay please to send some of his saints unto us, to speak words, which the 
dead healing them, shall live. I may not trouble you further at this time, 
only if we knew that you had a mind to stay in these parts after your en- 
largement, (for we hear you are to be sent back for England) and what 
time the ship would set sail, or could have hope the master would deliver 
you, we would endeavor to have a vessel in readiness, when the ship goeth 
out of harbor, to take you in, and set you where you may enjoy your lib- 
erty. 

" I marvel what manner of God your adversaries trust in, who is so 
fearful of being infected with error; or how they think they shall escape the 
wiles and power of the Devil, when the arm of flesh fails them, whereby 
they seek to defend themselves for the present; sure, they think their God 
will be grown to more power and care over them, in and after death; or else 
they will be loth to pass through it; but 1 leave them, and in spirit cleave 
unto him, (as being in you) who is ever the same, all-sufficient: 

" In whom I am yours, SAMUEL GORTON." 

On the 24lh of the same month, they returned an answer; from which the 
following is an extract : 

" Friend: the Lord hath drawn forth our hearts, to this place in much 
love, knowing in the light, that he hath a great seed among you, though 
scattered up and down; and are as sheep without a shepherd, and you are 
travelling from mountain to hill, in your wisdom and imaginations, the rest- 
ing place being not yet known, nor cannot be known by the highest wis- 
dom of the world, but in the denial of it; for there is something underneath, 
which is not, nor cannot be satisfied with all the divings into the mystery of 
the things declared in the Scriptures of Truth, which is the man of God's 
portion, and was given to that, to profit withal, that it might be thorough- 
ly furnished to every good word and work; but this is too low a thing for 
those which are high in their wisdom and knowledge, which they can hardly 
stoop unto, that is, to become fools that they may be wise, that the pure 
wisdom may dwell with them forevermore. 

" But the Lord is come, and coming, to level the mountains, and to rend 
the rocks of wisdom and knowledge, and to exalt that which is low and fool- 
ish to the wisdom of the world; and blessed shall thou, and all those be 
who meet him in this his work, which he is doing in the earth, and in this 
place, wherein thou now dwellest, in setting up the King, the Lord of 
Hosts, to reign in righteousness; for his tabernacle shall be among men, and 
ho will dwell in them, and walk in them, and he will be their God, and 
m 



18 



they shall be his people, from henceforth even forever. Now to that whiih 
thou writes to us, to know our minds to stay in these parts, we are unwil- 
ling to go out of these parts, if here we could be suffered to stay; but we 
are willing to mind the Lord, what way he will take for our slaying, and if 
he in wisdom shall raise thee up, and others for that end, we shall be wil- 
ling to accept of it: but what the master of the ship will do in the thing, we 
know not: they endeavoring to force him to enter into bond of £500, to set 
us ashore in England, which he did at first refuse, for whicli they sent him to 
prison without bail and mainprize, as wo are informed; but since, he doth 
proffer his own bond, but they will not at present accept it without securi- 
ty besides, to be bound with him; for they are afraid that we should be set 
ashore in these parts again ; therefore they make their bond as strong as 
they can, but the Lord knows a way to break their bonds asunder. The 
master hath been writ unto and warned that he should not enter into bond, 
which if he did not, it would be as a crown of honor upon his head, but if he 
doth, the Lord knows how to defeat them and him too : Now what he doth 
is out of a slavish fear, because he would not lie in prison, and hinder his 
voyage; but if the bond hinder him not, he would have been willing to have 
delivered us, and we should have been willing to have satisfied him, which 
we did proffer him; and if he be not hindered, the ship will be ready to set 
sail, about fourteen days hence; but at present, the master doth not know 
what to do; their demands being so unjust, to force him to carry us, and 
they not to pay him for it, nor we shall not, and yet will not take his own 
bond, but will have security besides; so that he and they are troubled with 
a burthensome stone, the ark of God doth afflict them; send it away they 
would, but yet they are not agreed what to do with it; so we shall leave 
thee to be guided by that Wisdom which governs all men and things, ac- 
cording to the counsel of hb own will, and bringeth his purposes to pass, by 
whom and in whom he pleaseth. 

" From the servants and messengers of the Lord, whom he hath sent and 
brought by the arm of his power into these parts of the world, for which 
we suffer bonds and close imprisonment, none suffered to speak or confer 
with us, nor scarce to see us, being locked up in the inward prison, as the 
jailer pretends, because we do not deliver our ink-horns, although he hath 
taken away three from us already, and will not suffer us] to burn our own 
caudles, but takes them away from us, because we shall not write in the 
night; though we arc strangers to thee, and others in this place, yet seen 
and known in the light, yet known in the world by these names. 

WILLTAftl BREND, 
THOMAS THUKSTON, 
CHRISTOP. HOLPEK- 
JOHN COPELAND. 



From the Common Jail ' 
in Boston, this 28 of 
.seventh, 16.')6. 



VJ 



p. S. We, luui all llic rest of riieiids willi us, leineiiiber tlieir love to 
thee, and il'tliou hast freedom, let us licar from thee. 

Oil the 6lli of October, Gorton .sent lliem another letter, directed, " To 
the strangers, sufl'ering imprisonment, in Boston, for the name of Christ;" 
from which the following <!.\tract is taken. 

"Loving Friends, — We have tluinkfully received your late and loving let- 
ters, but arc informed that since the penning of tliem, the master of the ship 
is engaged with two of Boston, bound with him, to set you ashore in En- 
gland; so that we perceive God hath diverted our desired design, we doubt 
not but for the best, in a further discovery of that spirit so wickedly bent to 
hinder (if it were possible) the fruitful progress of the grace of tlie gospel; 
and it may be, the name given imto you (we know not upon what ground) 
may come through an unalterable appointment, to be the natural practice 
of such as so deal with you, when the terrors of the Almighty shall take hold 
of them." 

This correspondence was published by Gorton, in 1657, as an Appendix 
to his "Antidote against the Common Plague of the World." The senti- 
ments and feelings which it displays, arc the more to be honored and appre- 
ciated, because in his times, and in this country especially, they were sel- 
dom avowed. 

Of the private history of Gorton, very little can be gleaned, even from 
tradition. The following extract is froiu the manuscript Itinerary of the 
late Dr. Ezra Styles. It is the testimony of the last of Gorton's disciples, 
and must put at rest every doubt of Gorton's sincerity in his religious belief, 
and induce a more favorable estimate of his character. 

"At Providence, Nov. IS, 1771 . I visited aged Mr. John Angell, ae. 80, 
boru Oct. IS, 1691, a plain, blunt-spoken man: right old English frankness. 
He is not a Q,uaker, nor Baptist, nor Presbyterian, but a Gortonist, and the 
only one I have seen. Gorton lives now only in him: his only disciple left. 
He says, that he knows of no other, and that he is alone. He gave me an 
account of Gorton's disciples, first and last, and shewed me some of Gor- 
ton's printed books and some of his manuscripts. He said, Gorton wrote in 
Heaven, and no one can understand his writings, but those who live in 
Heaven, while on earth. He said Gorton had beat down all outward or- 
dinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, with unanswerable demonstra- 
tion; that Gorton preached in London, in Oliver's time, and had a Church 
and living of Jt^SOO a year, offered him, but he believed no sum would have 
tempted him to take a farthing for preaching. He told me, that his grand- 
father, Thomas Angell, came from Salem to Providence with Roger Will- 
iams, that Gorton did not agree with Roger Williams, who was for out- 



20 



ward ordinancea to be set up again by new apostles. I asked him if Gorton 
was a Quaker; as he seemed to agree with them, in rejecting outward ordi- 
nances. He said, no; and that when George Fox (I thiiik) or one of the 
first Friends came over, he went to Warwick to see Gorton, but was a mere 
babe to Gorton. The Friends had come out of the world, in some ways, 
but still were in darkness or twilight, but that Gorton was far beyond them, 
he said, highway up to the dispensation of light. The Quakers were in no 
wise to be compared with him; nor any man else can, since the primitive 
times of the Church, especially since they came out of Popish darkness. He 
said, Gorton was a holy man; wept day and night for the sins and blindness 
of the world; his eyes were a fountain of tears, and always full of tears — a 
man fiill of thought and study — had a long walk out through the trees or 
woods by his house, where he constantly walked morning and evening, and 
even in the depth of the night, alone by himself, for contemplation and the 
enjoyment of the dispensation of light. He was universally beloved by all 
his neighbors, and the Indians, who esteemed him, not only as a friend, but 
one high in communion with God in Heaven, and indeed he lived in 
Heaven." 

It will be scarcely necessary to remind the reader; that in reckoning the 
months according to Old Style, February was called the twelfth, and 
March the first: the year commencing on the 25th of March. In the Notes, 
the computation of the year and month is made according to New Style. 



SIMPLICITIES DEFENCE 

AGAINST 

SEVEN-HEADED POLICY. 

OR 

INNOCENCY VINDICATED, BEING UNJUSTY ACCUSED AM) 
SORELY CENSURED, BY THAT 

SEVEN-HEADED CHURCH GOVERNMENT 

UNITED IN 

NEW-ENGLAND: 



THAT SERVANT SO IMPERIOUS IN HIS PIASTER'S ABSENCE. 
REVIVED, AND NOW THUS RE-ACTING IN NEW-ENGLAND. 



The Combate of the United Colonies, not onely against 
some of the Natives and Subjects, but against the authority also of the 
Kingdome of England, with their execution of Laws, in the name and 
authority of the Servant, (or of themselves) and not in the name and 
authority of the Lord, or fountain of the Government. 

Wherein is declared an Act of a Great People and Country 
of the Indians in those parts, both Princes and People (unanimously) 
in their voluntary submission and subjection unto the protection and 
Government of Old England, (from the fame they hear thereof) toge- 
ther with the true manner and forme of it, as it appears under their 
own hands and seals; being stirred up, and provoked thereto, by the 
combate and courses abovesaid. 

Throughout which Treatise is secretly intermingled, that 
great Opposition, which is in the goings forth of those two grand 
Spirits, that are, and ever have been, extant in the World, (through the 
sons of men) from the beginning and foundation thereof. 

Imprimatur, Aug. 3d, 1646. Diligently perused, approved, and licensed 
to the Presse, according to order, by publike authority. 

LONDON: 

Printed by John Macock, and are to be sold by Lukk Favvne, at h'n 
Shop in PaiiTs Chtirch-ynrd, at (lie sign of the Parrot. J<)16 



SIMPLICITIES DEFENCE 



AGAINST 



SEVEN-HEADED POLICY 



A TRUE COMPLAINT OF A PEACEABLE PEOPLE, BEING PART 

OV THE EN(;LISII in NEW-ENCLAND, made UNTO 

THE STATE OF OLD ENGLAND, AGAINST 

CRUELL PERSECUTORS, 

UNITED IN CIIURCII-GO VERNMENT 

IN THOSE FARTS. 

Wherein is made manifest the manifold outraifcs, cruelticSj 
oppressions, and taxations, by crucll and close iinprisonMients, tiin and 
sword, deprivation of goods, lands, and livelyiiood; and such like bar- 
barous inliumauities, exercised upon tlie people of Providence IManta- 
tions in the Nanhyganset Bay, by those of the Massachusetts, witii thf 
rest of the United Colonies, stretching themselves beyond the bounds 
of all their own jurisdictions, perpetrated and acted in such an unrea- 
sonable and barbarous manner, as many thereby have lost their lives. 

As it hath been faithfully declared to the Honorable Com- 
mittee of Lords and Commons for Forrain Plantations; whereupon 
they gave present order for redress. 

The sight and consideration whereof hath moved a great 
Country of the Indians and Natives in those parts. Princes and people, 
to submit unto the crown of England, and earnestly to sue to the Stale 
thereof, for safeguard and shelter from like cruelties. 



hnprimutur, Aug. 3d, 164C. Diligently perused, approved, and licensed 
to the Presse, according to order, by publike authority. 



LONDON : 

Priiited by John Macock, and are to be soldby GEORCiE Whitting- 

TON, at the blue Anchor, neer the Royal Exchange, in 

Cornhil. 1C47. 



To Ihe Right Honourable, the Earl of Warwick, Lord High 
Mmirall of England, and Governour in chiefe of the Eng- 
lish Plantations in America, and upon the coasts thereof; and 
to the rest of that honourable Committee, joyned in commis- 
sion u'ith his Excellencie, for the well ordering, government 
and safety of Forrain Plantations. ' 

Right Honorable, 

According to the fame we have heard of you, so have we 
found in you, a spirit of tendernesse and compassion to- 
wards the oppressed, which ever springs from the courage 
and fortitude of a heart resolute to suppresse the oppressor, 
be his power and policiewhat it may; whilst men unsensible 
of the cause of the needy, ever stand in readinesse to side 
with the strongest partie, and so, as occasion serves, to be- 
come one with the cruell, venting the same spirit, which for 
advantage can easily transform it selfe, so as if power com- 
ply with the just man's cause, the vizard of hypocrisie is 
soon put on by such, either to become dumb and silent, or 
else to speak so as may best advantage it selfe, let the 
cause be what it will. Your wisdom and noble care in those 
weighty affairs committed to your trust, commands and binds 
us over to make a more particular and full relation (than 

' See copy of act of Parliament appointing this committee, in Appendix, 
No. 12.— S. 



26 

formerly we have done) of what hath passed betwixt some 
other colonies in New England and our selves; that if it 
be possible to find any leisure hours in a crowd of so great 
imployments, your Honours might be pleased to take a 
more full view of things; in the mean time we stand hum- 
bly ingaged, as we have done; and ever shall in any ser- 
vice, that what we are, or have, can tender to the honour 
and peace of our native country, or to any true-hearted 
well wisher thereof; and if no other service (we can) may 
be acceptable, yet of this imployment none shall prevent us 
(whilst our Gon gives us hearts) daily to pray for you. 

Your Honours' most humble servants, the Inhabi- 
tants of Shaw-omet, whose names are often 
expressed in this narration. 



T 11 li E P I S T I. E T O T H i: READER. 



Courteous Eeadeu — 

Doe not thinke that we delight to lay open the infirmitie and 
weaknesse of men (except our weaknesses and infirmities as 
the Son of God sustained them) any further, nor to other 
end, but as they serve to discover and lay open that one 
spirit of the God of this world, which now works effectually 
in the children of disobedience; which spirit in all its seve- 
rall wayes of operation, may be gathered up, and centred 
in, that son of perdition, yea, in that seven-headed and ten 
horned beast, whose power and policie like unto that deluge 
in the old world, hath so long overspread the face of the 
earth, swallowing up in death every living thing that hath 
its motion upon the earth, after or according to the flesh. 

Nor can any be offended justly with us (no, not our ad- 
versaries themselves) for making this true narration of 
things that have passed amongst us, of which this treatise 
truly speaks; for actions performed, wherein men have 
cause to glory, the further they spread, the more satisfacto- 
ry to the agents; nor are actions of such public nature sel- 
dom performed, but to such end and purpose; for if they be 
good they ought not only to be reall and essentiall in them 
amongst whom they are acted and done, but also presiden- 
tial! and exemplary unto others wherever the fame of them 
may come; and if they be evill, then a whorish Forehead 
must needs accompany them, being done in the light of the 
Sun, and then can no wise man be oflended, that a way 
niarkc is cast up, to give notice of such desperate and dan- 



28 



gerous wayes, unless himselfe be of the same spirit, and is 
about, or else waits for, an opportunity, for the like design. 

Thou art entreated therefore not to looke upon this trea- 
tise, as simply matter of history, but as matter of mysterie 
also; for, as it was acted to make manifest the operations 
and workings of a different spirit, to that end it is published 
also; 30 that if it be narrowly looked into, not only a savour 
of that mysterie of iniquitie will appeare (which alwayes 
works effectually to the same end and purpose, namely, to 
extinguish and put out the light of divine truth, wheresoever 
or in whomsoever it appears) but thou will find some foot- 
steps also of that great mysterie of God, whose bright 
beams of light wherever made manifest, declare the men of 
the world to sit in the shadow of death. Though the mys- 
terie of iniquitie works not alwayes in the same manner and 
forme, nay seldom any long time together, without taking a 
new face, and using the art of transformation of it selfe into 
one and another shape ; and herein lies the policie of Sathan, 
that when some time hath been spent (yea, it may be an 
age) in hopes and expectation of glorious times of peace, 
ease, end exaltation, from the mouths of lying prophets, 
who always drive the peace, power, and principality of the 
kingdome of God, some certain time before them, or at the 
least before the common people, (as they call them,) as 
though they themselves were the onely men that for the 
present were admitted into the counsells and secrets of the 
kingdome of God, and the people to take it from their re- 
port, where and when, the appearance shall be. 

But when the world by due proof, finds their predictions 
to fail, and sees troups of its ancestors go down to the 
grave, not having the possession put into their hand, it then 
works effectually for a transformation, to cast its worship of 
God into another forme, wherein it hopes in shorter time 
for to attaine him; in which state it cannot rest to wait, un- 
lessc it hath the strongest partic according to the power of 



29 

the armof flesli on its side, and therefore must of necessity 
labor diligently, as for life, to borrow a coercive power from 
the civil magistrate, to be transferred, turned over and put 
into their hands, whereby they may subdue others, and 
compell them to follow their way, and to acknowledge their 
worship to be onely divine, yea the oncly God of the world; 
for there is but one divinitie, which they have now made 
and set up unto themselves; or else, that the civil magis- 
trate will be pleased to detain and keep his own power upon 
this condition, (binding him unto themselves) that he shall 
not fail to bind the hands and tongues, yea and hearts also 
(if they can but search and know what is in them) that none 
shall be permitted to intermeddle or any way to disturb them ; 
but they may peaceably worship, every man in his garden, 
and under such a green tree as he shall clioose unto him- 
selfe, being fearfuU of trouble and disquiet, not knowing 
better, but that the crosse of Christ is terrible; as though 
the Sonne of God had not taken away the terror and angry 
face of it, putting no lesse disparagement upon him, but as 
though the sting were in death still, being ignorant of this, 
how that by death he overcomes death, even until now. 

The reason why the civil magistrate is so sought after, 
and (as I may truly say) troubled, if not tortured, in the 
depopulation of kingdoms and losse of true-hearted subjects 
by the Church, in her formalities and perfunctory worships, 
is this; a naturall heart conceives the condition of the 
Church of Christ, to be like a commonweal or kingdome, 
which cannot be well, unlesse every individuall within such 
naturall and terrene confines, agree in one, for the well be- 
ing and glory of each particular in the whole; so that the 
humble submission of every subject becomes one, in that 
one heart and spirit of the king, who submits to the deniall 
of himselfe (in any thing) for the preservation of the whole; 
and that one heart, courage and magnanimity of the king is 
in every individuall of the kingdome, to go forth fur the hon- 



30 

our, peace and preservation, of that their one lord; and so 
it is in the true Church rightly considered in its relation to 
the King of Saints, truly considered in spirituall and not 
in terrene respects; but that naturall spirit that works in a 
naturall, changeable and vanishing church, judgeth of its 
peace according to the consent of all within the compasse 
of such naturall bounds and terrene confines as itself resides 
and al)ides in; and therefore, the false prophet is said to be 
the tail, because which way the honorable person looks, or 
the head of the place where he is (according to man) he al- 
ways steers the body of the people, yea though it be but 
the body of the beast that way, that he may have strength 
according to sense on his side, not knowing how to live or 
walk according to the power of faith; therefore must either 
have all (if it be possible) or at least the greatest both for 
authority and number on his side; for he sees not the bles- 
sing of the divine presence that goes with the ark of God, 
though among many adversaries in the wildernesse; there- 
fore will he take up nothing but the tabernacle of Moloch, 
(or as the word is) bear the boothe of the king; that is, vvhat 
manner of house soever, authority and civil power erecteth, 
for worship, he is ready to take up and bear upon his 
shoulders; so that Antichrist hath as many wayes of wor- 
ship, as there is or hath been formes of religion in the world; 
and in that the seed of the serpent crusheth the heel, (or as 
the word is) the print of the footsoal, of Christ, or seed of 
the woman; for wherever the footsteps of our Lord have 
gone, the wisdome of the serpent in reforming its religion 
casts it into a forme, and so denies the power of godliuesse, 
tying the Lord Jesus to appeare in the very same print and 
character again; whereas the saints wait for his power in 
what way or form he pleaseth to make it known and mani- 
fest in and unto them; therefore the visions and apparitions 
of God in the Holy Scriptures, are never twice in the same 
form, (all circumstances considered) yea, if our Saviour ap- 



31 

pcarc one time walking upon the sea, as though all things 
of necessity must bear up their Lord, he appcares again 
under the hands of Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the Jews, 
thrust down into the heart of the earth, as Jonah into the 
midst of the sea, as though all things conspired together to 
annihilate and bring him to nought; and in the one and the 
other appeares an aptitude even in the disciples themselves 
to mistake, and in this the world is altogether mistaken, in 
that he walketh upon, and raiseth himself up out of wayes 
they know not how such things can be, to make mani- 
fest his power and authority to be that of the Sonne of God, 
who rules in the midst of his enemies and out of Egypt, 
Babylon, Rahab, Palestina, Tyre and Ethiopia, is brought 
forth, so that it may be said this man was born there, even 
as the truth of the Gospel hath been brought forth in those 
parts; which our Jewish reformers of religion by putting 
Christ to death, could never have thought of or appreliend- 
ed, nor will they (were it never so plainly told unto tliein) 
believe it; so that in this treatise you may plainly see, how 
the mystery ofiniquitie already works, even in New Eng- 
land, which thought itself the root of reformation of all the 
world, even as Babylon, alwayes in the entrance of her 
compulsive contraction, artificiall and self seeking, conjec- 
turall reformation, sets herself up as a queen, and thinks 
never to see widdow-hood or sorrow more, if she can but 
with all her art and learning, keep the magistrate's con- 
science in bonds, to use all his power and civil policie, for 
her wealth, to get riches and honour, to lord it over men's 
consciences and peace, that she may sit in safety and rest, 
to inlarge her barns and take her pleasure in the things of 
this life; never dreaming that even in that night of grossc 
darknesse, her soul shall be snatched away from her; and 
then whose shall all those things be, whereof she hath 
framed such a service of God to herself, that must all leave 
her at death; even such as for the most part, if not all (by 



32 

Iicr own acknowledgment) fail, and never passe along with 
her into the kingdom; and then must the either have a new 
God, or else find out a new way of submission unto him, 
whom she hath seemed so zealously to serve; such is that 
spirit of the mystery of iniquity, the goings forth whereof 
hath forced this treatise to come to the light and view of the 
world, as a warning to all Christians, to take heed of being 
beguiled by a voluntary humility in worshipping of Angels, 
messengers or ministers, who labor to make men subject to 
the rudiments of the world in outward observation, as touch 
not, taste not, handle not, rearing up a fabric of ordinan- 
ces in divine worship, of such things whieh do perish in the 
use, neglecting the body which is Christ, to the satisfying 
of the wisdom of the flesh in these things, through which 
the spirit of the serpent multiplies itself into that threefold 
spirit which comes out of the mouth of the dragon, and out 
of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false 
prophet, imitating that kingly, priestly, and prophetical! 
spirit that is by Jesus Christ, beguiling the world with its 
uncleannesse, in adulterating the word of God, by bringing 
it into carnall copulation with earthly, transitory, momen- 
tary, fading and vanishing things: wo is unto them because 
thereof, who like unto frogs, will never appear, hold up 
their heads, or utter a voyce, but where the heat and lustre 
of the civil magistrate, brings forth a pleasant, fruitful! and 
prosperous estate and condition, in the things that onely 
concern the present life. 

Again, if thou look narrowly into this treatise, there is a 
possibility to perceive in it, some glimpse of the light of 
that spirit that openeth and unfoldeth the mystery of God, 
especially when it taketh up any scriptures; look diligently 
upon what hinge it turneth, and you shall see a doore open, 
another way, yea a nearer and shorter cut to the kingdom 
of God, than the common ministery of this world driveth 
at; and think it not strange, if Jesus appeare in such places, 



33 

and at such time, where and when the doores are not onely 
shut but fast bolted unto the world, as a thing impossible, 
that his real and substantial! (though siiirituali) body should 
come, in such a way and so unlooked for, being that in So- 
dom and Egypt our Lord is crucified and put to death; yet, 
let me advise thee as once our Lord did, handle them care- 
fully and skillfully ponder, poise and feel the weight of 
them; taste, try and consider, whether the reality and sub- 
stantiality of Christ be not there; sure I am that if the min- 
istrie or service of a christian spirit lay hands on them, and 
put itself into them, even as a graft is put into the stock, it 
shall find a plain proof, argument and demonstration unde- 
nyable, of the apparition and revelation of the son of God, 
returned from death to life, never to die any more, unto 
whom I leave thee (in the communication of whose resur- 
rection the second death can never exercise power) with my 
harty wishes for all those who have learned the truth as it 
is in Jesus, and know, that elsewhere no truth ( that is 
christian) can be found, for that, onely abideth forever and is^ 
eternized in all the lineaments and whole proportion of if, 
and happy is ho who has so learned Christ, Amen. 

S. G. 



upon an occasional view, of this unexpecled and much univished 
for story. 

This story's strange, but altogether true; 
Old England's saints are banisli'd out of New; 
Oh, monstrous art, and cunning of the devill, 
What hidden paths he goes to spread his evill' 
The man of sin's the same, his eldest son; 
Both have more shapes than be motes in the sun 
Hence, disappointed, are the most of men; 
When trouble's past, (some thinke) they rise agen 
Thus it befell these pilgrims, in that land 
To which they fled, from persecution's hand. 
This, Indians note, with Papists, Jews and Turks, 
For in them all, the selfe-same spirit works: 
Thus is the name of Christ, blasphem'd, by these 
Who burden them, to whom they promise ease. 

Oh, Christ arise, and spread thy glorious fame, 
That all may know the swcetnesse of thy name: 
As — AflVic, Europe and America 
Expect! and waite the dawnings of that day, 
That Papists, Greeks and we the Protestants 
Of Calvins sect, those too, the Lutherans, 
And they that are a straine above them all, 
At Jesus' feet, at length may humbly fall. 
That so such Christs, which, most in fancy make 
(When lis (men think) that Christemdom doth shake) 



35 

May at tli' appearing ofllie Lord depart, 
And all njay worship him ev'n with one heart , 
That so the nations may this glory see; 
And info it, at length, transformed be. 
This to eflect, can't be by sword of man, 
But that, which to withstand, no kingdome.s can, 
For 'tis the Lord's own might, the sword that doth 
E'en with two edges flow out of God's mouth, 
By which arc slaine the wicked of each land, 
And will sure brcake each persecutor's band. 
Then England and yee nations round about 
That are now so lofty, and so stout: 
At length downefall to him that's Lord of you; 
And learne with him, like meeknesse for to tshow. 
If you, with iron rods, saints break and bruise; 
Know then your selves, that Christ you so will use 

R B 



A lover of 'peace, and one of eminent respect, viewing this 
treatise at the presse, kindly added this verse prefixed, which 
hath both sodainly and unexpectedly draum from my thoughts 
as here follow eth, as a testimony of my kind respects unto the 
party, though but a stranger unto him ; it may also serve as an 
intelligencer, what was the only ground of controversy in acting 
unto and publishing of this treatise. 

The serpent hath a voyce, so slie and fine 
Consults with Nature, as though he were divine, 
Whilst she doth seek for glory, wealth and love 
In things that are below, and not in that above; 
Lending an ear* to listen unto him. 
The fruit looks fair, the tree seems nothing grim: 
And thence doth he, at first begin t'arise 
Through earthly projects, for to make man wise. 
Whereas the light of heaven, God himself ordained 
To be that thing, whereby man is maintained 
In wisdom, honor, happiness and peace 
That doth from serpent (sin, death, hell) release: 
And not, conjectural, doubtful, subtil notion 
Set forth by art with sign of great devotion. 



*Hence doth ariae the way of Solomon's harlot set out in the way of this 
woman — Gen. iii. Prov. vii. who may not speake in the church but usurp- 
eth — 1 Tim. ii. 



37 

Come from the Prelates* your persecviting foes; 
Our Church (as primitive) Ciuist Jesus doth disclose. 
Her ordinances pure, a church erected here, 
Where you may worship, voyd of care or fear. 
Our land is large; our magistracy good; 
Come o'er, to save that innocent like blood 
From such as are to cruelty so bent. 
Our ways are meek and humble, to give all content; 
Thus he appears, apparelled in white. 
To snare in that, wherein he takes delight. 
An earthly kingdom, he would fain erect, 
Then, spiritual honor, he must needs reject. 

That when that womanl appearcth in her glory 
With him in womb, of whom intreats all story. 
Then he's a dragon red, for to devour 
That child, to whom is given, all the power 
In heaven and in earth, to rule as King and Lord. 
None to the serpent, no, heaven cannot afford 
A place of residence, he must hence depart 
Down to the earth, full sore against his heart. 
That he a place cannot devise to frame 
Which from the heavens may seem to take its fame. 
Cruel, raging, carnal, now he cometh forth. 
His slie and subtil wisdom, now proves nothing worth. 

This woman now in travail, finds not time 
To listen unto him, nought but the child is mine; 
Which child in her can nothing else confesse 
But throne of GloryJ and bare wildernesse; 

*The serpent's voyce transmits into New England, speaking there in way 
of ministers, as at the beginning. 

tin this woman is set out the way of King Lemuel's mother, Ihat teacli- 
eth prophecy, Rev. xii. Prov. xxxi. who may prophecy in the church with- 
out usurpation, 1 Cor. xi. 

J. For the one betakes itself to hcavca and the other to the wilderness. 



38 

Wiiicli twain together, give all praise to one; 

'J'lien lury's in tiie serpent, smootli policy is gone; 

No middle place for Sathan now is found, 

Not one with the man-child; down he goes to ground. 

His cunning cannot now entice so far, 

But Michael and his angels will make war 

With Dragon, and with all his angels great, 

Yea, overcome him, never sound retreat. 

Most of his skill he useth,* he knows how 
To talk of benefits to receive, although not now; 
And so from place and person still delights to wend 
Where's outward peace, there's Christ doth he pretend; 
And if so be that troubles do arise. 
Himself he saves, the serpent is so wise; 
No tie, no fold, nor flock he then will know; 
Christ in an earthly place, he'll have, where'er he go. 

Whereas our Lord, his voyce doth sometimes teach 
Go to Decapolis,! and there thou shalt me preach 
Unto ten;j; cities, great the number bee. 
My word shall reach them, and I am with thee. 

For I am truth, and truth thou goest to show, 
Which makes thee free, my presence thou dost know. 
No place can scant thee off"; then walk at large, 
Doubt not, I'm with thee, do but keep my charge. 
The nations shall come forth at once, yea at one birth, 
Truth in the change of one, reneweth all the earth; 
Else, were not perfect good, in every one erect, 
Nor sinne were full, through th' fall, that great defect, 

*He ever puts oft' the day of the Lord, as not yet the time to build the 
temple, but would live in his own ceiled (or artificial) house of his owii 
tVaming and device. 

tThough he desired to be with Jesus, yet Jesus, understanding his desire 
to be but nature, that is, to enjoy him according to the flesh, denies him 
'.hat, that so ho might be with him according to the spirit. Matt, .x.wiii. 20. 

•t For so the word Dccapolis signifies ten cities. 



39 

If change of one, wore not a world renewed, 
What nation, tlien, not brought in and snhdiied, 
Wlion truth is published, though hut uiilo one 
Knibraoed, received? Oh Iiappy state ol'nian, 
All Gentile jewels, brought in, who can want; 
The world's in darknesse else could ne'er be scant. 

But hypocrites cannot this thing digest, 
In places, times and persons, they seek wealth and rest, 
And see not how the mighty Loud above 
Hath cast his skirt o'er Ruth, yea, fill'd her lap in love: 
Of whom comes Christ, that world of God's good will, 
What can she want, that heaven and earth doth fill? 
All keepe their stations, attend as they have done, 
Neglect no homage, or service to the Son, 
All bring their virtues, treasures and their glory 
Centr'ng them all in him, a world of princely dowry; 
Then walke through sea or land, by friends or foes 
Let prisons fast, hard irons tliee, inclose. 
All take thy part, yea, plead thy cause for thee; 
The world vents its malice, in Christ's love thou art free. 
The spirit of this v/orld, by these things come to light ; 
Its pomp and glory, which erst did shine so bright, 
Appears grosse darknesse unto Christian eyes, 
Down comes itskingdome, up goes its plaints and cries, 
Help, sword and gun, else doth our kingdome fall, 
Court, fire, gangrena,* we taste wormwood and gall. 
]No marvel, for Christ in his native kind 
Set forth, declared unto a carnal mind, 
Appears as odious unto such a wight 
As sinne to Him, in whom is found the light. 
What sentence shall be given then by sons of men, 
- When truth appears, if power were found in them? 

*Bool{s so intitutled. written upon unoeitaiii reports, tales nnd roiijertuif- 
to cure tlie riiuirli. 



40 

No power but that of darknessP, then, let us to them aseribe 
What's in the Church's our Lord's, all unto them deny'd. 
Take heed, ye judg of blasphemies aright, 
For Ijoht discerns, the darknesse has no sight. 
If light and candlesticke, you know not how t'make one. 
Suspend your judgment, all your skill is gone. 
And let the judge of all, his circuit passe apace, 
Who comes not to destroy, such is his grace! 
And let that man his own destruction be, 
Who breaks that faith with God, cannot be pieced by thee. 
Cease then your prosecutions, seek ye to do good; 
Save life in any, in Church ways spill not blood 
In Christ, if you consider, the Covenant of God, 
You'll find that all compulsion, is nought but that Nimrod.* 

S. G. ' 

*A mere hunting of men, to worry your ov/n kind (or rather that hind of 
the morning, see Psa. xxii. in the title) thirsting after the precious hfe. — 
Compare Gen. x. 8, 9, with Jer. xvi. 16. 

' If Gorton's cotemporaries had accused him of " having no call" as a 
poet, it would have been difficult to have repelled the charge. He would, 
however, have been tried by his peers in poetry, if tried by those, who, at 
that time wooed the muses in New Ensrland. — S. 



I N N O C E N C Y ' S DEFENCE 

AGAINST A SEVEN-HEADED CHURCH GOVERNMENT 

UNITED IN NEW-ENGLAND. 

The moderation of '^ew England's justice, desired to be 
known to all men, and what are the principal things pretend- 
ed in the execution thereof, namely to suppress heretics, 
and to confirm that to be truth, which the unity of the most 
colonies hold; plainly declaring and setting forth to the 
view of all, what is the proper bent and drift of that spirit 
that digs so deep to hide its sin in secret, which so affect- 
eth to assume titles unto itself and also to give, at their 
pleasure, unto others; to make themselves appear, in the 
eyes of men, more holy and honorable in the things of God, 
than others of their brethren; commonly crying out against 
that power exercised amongst others, for no other end but 
to assume it unto themselves, to cloth the dictates of that 
spirit therewith, whereby themselves are led, and so to exer- 
cise it with all zeal and wrath in the life, spirit and sub- 
stance of it, only with another face or countenance set upon 
it to deceive and beguile the simple; not being able to en- 
dure the air, where Cap, Tippet, or Upper-shirt appeareth, 
but can bathe themselves in blood and feed themselves fat, by 
devouring the good name, estates and lives of their breth- 
ren, who neither do, nor think harm unto them, nor reside 
within the compass of any of their jurisdictions, evidently 
proved by a late assault given by the men of the Massachu- 
setts and other colonies united for such a purpose, upon 
others of their countrymen iiihal)i(ants of a tract of land 

B 



42 

called Shaw-omet, t^iluate in the Narraganset Bay in New- 
England ; the truth whereof this treatise witnesseth, and 
the substance of all is to be seen under their own hand writ- 
ing, as also in the writings of others, who were eye and ear 
witnesses in the cause, and have testified under their hands, 
the truth of it. 

[Here followeth a narration of the men of Shawomet con- 
cerning the ground of transplanting of themselves and fam- 
ilies, and of their first entrance into that part of America 
now called New-England.] 

Whereas we removed ourselves and families out of our 
native country about ten or twelve years ago * by the leave 
of this State, not only to enjoy the liberty of our conscien- 
ces in respect to our faith tovv'ards God, and for no other 
end, not scrupling any civil ordinance for the education, or- 
dering or government of any civil State. 

Landing by the Providence of God at Boston in the Mas- 
sachusetts Bay, we found our countrymen at great variance 
in point of religion, prosecuting it very hotly in their public 
courts, unto fines and banishments, occasioning men thereby 
much to vent and bring forth themselves, and we under- 
standing that they had formerly banished one Master Roger 
Williams,- a man of good report Loth for life and doctrine, 



^The first purchasers of Shawomet, were Randall Holden, John Greene, 
John Weeks, Francis Weston, Samuel Gorton, Richard Waterman, John 
Warner, Richard Carder, Sampson Shotton, Robert Potter, Nicholas Pow- 
er and William Waddle or WoodeaJ. 01" these, Greene, Weston, Water- 
man and Power were among the first settlers of Providence. The remarks 
in the text, apply only to a part of the Shawomet purchasers. In subse- 
quent notes when these names occur in the text, will be embodied all the 
information in relation to each individual, that could be collected. — S. 

2 Roger Williams was born in Wales, A. D. 1599. After receiving or- 
ders in the Church, he embraced the principles of the Non-conformists, em- 
barked for New-England and arrived at Boston in the ship Lyon, February 
5, 1631. He was for a short time assistant of the Rev. Mr Skelton, then 



43 

even ainongbl lhciri.>^rlvct?, lor dissenting from llicni in some 
points abont their church government, and that in the ex- 
minister at Salem. On account of some dilTicuUies with the Government oi" 
Maasachusetts, he removed to Plymouth. He there preached as an assis- 
tant of Mr Smith, about two years and eight months, when he took his di:*- 
inission and returned to Salem, lie continued with the church there, as 
assistant of .Mr. Skelton, until the decease of Mr. S. in 1634, after which ho 
was their sole minister until his banishment in November, 163-5. The oc- 
casion of his banishment was, his insisting that the King's Patent gave the 
Colonists no right to the lands they occupied, as against the natives — and 
his contending for a rigid and entire separation from the Church of England; 
but more than all, his denying the right of civil government to interfere in 
matters of religion. After his banishment he removed to Seekonk, where ho 
remained till the next spring or summer. Being then informed by Governor 
Winslow of Plymouth, that ho was within Plymouth jurisdiction, he crossed 
the river with some of his friends who had joined him from Salem, and com- 
menced the settlement of Providence, purchasing land of Conanicus and 
Miautonomi, chief Sachems of the Narragansetts. During a long life he 
w.is much engaged in the public affairs of the colony. Twice he visited 
England on their account, the first time in 1643, to obtain a charter for the 
colony, and the second time in 16.'51, with John Clark, as agents of the col- 
ony, to procure the revocation of " Coddington's Obstruction;" both of 
which objects were accomplished. He died in 1683, leaving six children; 
Mary, Freeborn, Providence, Mercy, who was married to Richard Water- 
man son of Richard, Daniel who married Rebecca Power, widow of Nich- 
olas Power and daughter of Zachary Rhodes, and Joseph who married 
Lydia, daughter of Thomas Olney. 

He published " A Key to the Language of America," since reprinted by 
the Rhode-Island Historical Society, an answer to fllr. Cotton's letter con- 
cerning the power of the magistrate in matters of religion; "The Bloody Ten- 
et of Persecution for the cause of Conscience;" " The Bloody Tenet made 
more bloody by Master Cotton's endeavor to wash it white;" '• The Hire- 
ling Ministry none of Christ's;" " Experiments of Spiritual Life and Health 
and their Preservatives," and " George Fox digged out of hia Burroughs," 
the last being his account of his dispute with the Quakers. 

During his life he possessed the confidence of the natives by whom he was 
surrounded. The other colonies wore indebted to him for timely notice of 
the Indian conspiracy in 1636, which threatened their existence. Hi* '.vr: 



44 



tremity of winter, forcing liiin to betake himself into the vast 
wilderness, to sit down amongst the Indians in a place by 
their own confessions out^of all their jurisdictions: and at that 
time of our arrival at Boston they were proceeding against 
one Master John Wheelwright,' a man of like life and con- 
versation, whom they also banished for differing with them 

tings prove him a man of superior talents and acquirements, and his 
conduct towards his persecutors breathed the true spirit of christian benevo- 
lence. His favorite principle of unlimited freedom of conscience took deep 
root in the colony he planted, and was its distinguishing characteristic for 
many years. — S. 

' The banishment of Williams from Massachusetts, did not secure that 
uniformity in faith and practice which was deemed by the government of 
that colony, so essential to the well being of a community. The exertion 
of the civil power in that case, as in most others of a like nature, increased 
not only the number of heretical persons, but also the number of heretical 
opinions. The Synod called in 1637, condemned eighty-two erroneous opin- 
ions then extant' in that colony. 

Among 'those most deeply infected with heresy, was the Rev. Jolin 
Wheelwright. He came to New-England in 1G36, from Lincolnshire, 
where he had been admitted to holy orders in the Established Church. He 
was brother to the famous Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, the leader of the Antino- 
mians of Massachusetts in 1636. At a fast appointed that year on account 
of the spread of such principles, he preached a sermon at Boston, calculated 
rather to increase than allay the excitement, in which he indulged in invec- 
tives against some of the magistrates and ministers, for their opinions. For 
this he was adjudged by a court of magistrates to be guilty of sedition, and 
also of contempt, " for that the Court had appointed the fast as a means of 
reconciliation of difterences, &.c. and he purposely set himself to kindle and 
increase them." Sentence of banishment was accordingly passed against 
him. This was in November 1637. From Boston he removed to Exeter, 
N. H. and commenced a settlement there. In 1642, he removed from Ex- 
eter to Wells, and subsequently to Hampton and Salisbury. His sentence 
of banishment was reversed in 1644, upon his making an acknowledgment. 
In 1658 he was in England, in favor with Cromwell. He died Nov. 15tb, 
1679, at an advanced age, leaving behind him a good leport for leaniinf 
and piety. — S. 



15 

in point of doctrine, thu suui whcrcur cunsislcd in this, tiiat 
sanctification is not the first evidence unto a christian of his 
salvation; and many others inanilesting their thoughts about 
such points, then controverted amongst them, were also 
imprisoned, fined, banished, disarmed,' and cast out from 
amongst them. 

'The following extract fiom the Massachusetts Records is copied fioiu 
Savage's Winthrop, vol. 1, page 2-18. 

" Whereas the opinions and revelations of Mr. Wheelwright and .^Irs. 
Hutchinson, have seduced and Jed into dangerous errors, many of the peo- 
ple here in New-England, insomuch that there is just cause of suspicion 
that they, as others iu Germany in former times, may upon some revelation 
make some sudden irruption upon those that diller from them in judgment; 
for prevention whereof it is ordered, that all those whose names are under- 
written, shall upon warning given or left at their dwelling houses, before the 
30th day of this month of November, deliver in at Mr. Cane's house in Bos- 
ton, all such guns, pistols, swords, powder, shot and match as they shall be 
owner of, or have in their custody, upon pain often pounds for every de- 
fault to be made thereof; which arms are to be kept by Mr. Cane till this 
court shall take further order therein. Also it is ordered, upon like penalty 
often pounds, that no man who is to render his arms by this order, shall 
buy or borrow any guns, pistols, powder, shot or match until this court 
shall take further order therein." 

" The names of Boston to be disarmed" are fifty-eight, among them are, 
William Hutchinson, William Aspinwall, William Dyre, Edward Hutchin- 
son, Henry Bull, John Clark, John Coggeshall, Samuel Wilbore, John Por- 
ter, Thomas Savage, William Freeborn, AVilliam Baulston, John Sandford, 
Richard Carder and John Walker, who removed to Rhode-Island and signed 
the first articles of association there. Philip Sherman of Roxbury, anoth- 
er of the first settlers of Rhode-Island, was also disarmed. A part ot these 
subsequently returned to Massachusetts. Aspinwall was the first Secretary 
of the Rhode-Island colony. After his first return to Massachusetts he held 
the same ot?ce there, as will appear in the course of this narrative. Cogge- 
shall and Aspinwall were at the time, deputies from Boston. They were 
disfranchised, and Coggeshall afterwards banished. The preamble of these 
orders, recites the only reason then given by the Government of i\Iassachu- 
setts for these remarkable proceedings. Gov. Winthrop vol. 1, i)age 245 
gives another. He savs, " The Genera! Court bcin;; assembled on the sec- 



46 

And wc [)lainly perceiving, thai the scope of their doc- 
trine was bent only to maintain that outward form of wor- 
ship which they had erected to themselves, tending only 
to the outward carriage of one man toward another ; leaving 
those principles of divinity, wherein we had been instructed 
in our native country, tending to faith toward God in Christ; 
and we finding no ground or warrant for such an order in 
the Church, to bind men's consciences unto as they had es- 
tablished amongst them, our consciences could not close 
with them in such practices; which they perceivmg, denied 
us the common benefit of the country, even so much as a 
place to reside in and plant upon, for the maintenance and 
preservation of ourselves, our wives and little ones, as also, 
proceeded against us, as they had done to others, yea with 
more severity, unto confinements, imprisonments, chains, 
fines, whippings, and banishment out of all their jurisdic- 
tinos,^ to wander in the wilderness in extremity of winter, 

ondoftlie 9th month," November, and " finding upon consultation that 
two so opposite parties could not continue in the same body, without appa- 
rent hazard of ruin to the whole, agreed to send away some of the princi- 
pal, and for this a fair opportunity was offered by the remonstrance or pe- 
tition which they preferred to the Court the 9th of the first month," March. 
This petition can be found in the appendix to the first volume of Wmthrop. 
It aflbrds another instance of the facility with which excuses or reasons may 
be found for acts once resolved on. That a petition from the people to 
their representatives should be construed into a criminal act, worthy of ban- 
ishment or disfranchisement, strikes the mind with surprise. It will be rec- 
ollected too, that this petition was preferred the first month, and no order 
made against the petitioners till the ninth month following. Mad it afford- 
ed any just grounds for the apprehensions set forth in the preamble of the 
orders, it is strange that the authors and signers of it were not proceeded 
against at once. — S. 

' It is not probable that this remark was intended to apply, in all its par- 
ticulars, to every individual of the Shawomet purchasers. >Such informa- 
tion as has been collccled in relation lo each, will be given in subsequent 
notes. — S. 



47 

yea, when the snow was up to the knee, and rivers to wa<ii- 
through up totlie middle, and not so much as one of tlic In- 
dians to be found in that extremity of weather, to ailbrd us 
either fire or any harbor, sucli as themselves had, being re- 
moved into swamps and thickets where they were not to be 
found; in which condition, in the continuation of the weath- 
er, we lay divers nights together, having no victuals but 
what we took on our backs, and our drink as the snow af- 
forded unto U3, whereupon we were constrained with the 
hazard of our lives to betake ourselves into that part of the 
country called the Narragansett Bay, buying several par- 
cels of land of the Indians there inhabiting, and sat down 
in and near the place where Blaster Roger "Williams was, 
where we built houses, and bestowed our labors to raise up 
means to maintain our wives and little ones, (which our 
countrymen out of their zeal had deprived us of and taken 
away from us) quietly possessing them for the space of 
seven or eight years, (some of U3)no man interrupting us, 
but both the Massachusetts and also Plymouth confessed us 
to be out of the confines of their patents.* But when they 

' Upon Williams' removal across tlie Seekoiik, he purchased of the chief 
Sachems of the Narrngansetts, '« the lauds and meadows upon the two 
fresh rivers Moshassuck and Wanasquatucket," and " all the land from 
those rivers to Pawtuxot river; as also the grass and meadows upon the 
said Pavvtuxet river." 'I'he deed of the Sachems bears date " the 2 Uh of 
the first month commonly called iMarch, the second year of the plantation 
or planting at IMoshassuck or Providence," and recites that the sale was 
made two years before. This deed was confirmed the 9th of the 3d month 
(Jlay) 1639, by Jliantonomi. Soon after the execution of this deed by the 
Sachems, Williams conveyed to each of his twelve companions in e.\ile, 
among whom were John Greene, Francis Weston and Richard Waterman, 
afterwards some of the purchasers of Shawomet, equal right with himself, 
in the lands between and upon the rivers Moshassuck and Wanasquatucket. 
The consideration named in the deed is thirty pounds, which is acknowledj;- 
ed ia the deed to have been received by him. On the Sth of October 1638, 
it was agreed by and between the thirteen owners of Providence, that the 



48 

ppi-coivod (hosp parts to l)e a refuge for such as were op- 
pressed aiul grieved amongst themselves, who repaired unto 

mcadow.s at Pawtuxet should be " impropriated" between them in equal 
shares, in consideration of which tiiey agree to pay Williams twenty pounds; 
twelve thirteenths of which, Williams acknowledged by a receipt on the 
back of the deed, to have received of his companions, in full for their pro- 
portions. This division of the original purchase occasioned great troubles. 
It is probable a settlement was made on these meadows even before the 
date of this agreement. 

The deed made by Williams was very imperfect. It contained only the 
initials of the grantees' names, and other abbreviations equally objectiona- 
ble; he was therefore frequently requested to give them another deed. On 
the 20th of December 1661, he made another deed, which contains in its 
recitals much historical information. It states that the after-comers paid 
thirty shillings a-piece into a common stock from which Williams received 
thirty pounds, as a " loving gratuity" for his great charge and travel in pro- 
curing the grant from the Sachems. For some reasons not necessary now 
to be inquired into, this deed though full in its terms, duly executed by Wil- 
liams and his wife, and containing covenants of warranty against himself 
and all persons claiming under him, did not give full satisfaction to his com- 
panions. Accordingly on the 22d December, 1666, he executed another 
copy of his first deed to the purchasers, in which all their names are written 
at length, and which contains no abbreviations. The date is the 8th of Oc- 
tober, 163S, the day on which the "impropriation" of the Pawtuxet mead- 
ows was made. Appended is a certificate signed by \Villiams, that the in- 
strument is a true copy " of a writing given by me about twenty eight years 
since, and differs not a tittle only, so is dated as near as we could guess 
about the time," &c. 

The company at Providence was rapidly increased by exiles and emi- 
grants from the neighboring colonies, who were admitted " to the same fel- 
lowship of vote" with the original purchasers and to equal right in the pur- 
chase upon certain terms. But to none of these was any right given in the 
Pawtuxet lands. Other purchases were soon made of the Indians by differ- 
ent individuals. Williams purchased a tract of land of Sacononocco, con- 
firmed by Conanicus and IMiantonomi. This he afterwards sold to Robert 
Coles. Benedict Arnold purchased of 3Iiantonomi in 1641. The same 
Sachem in 1642 conveyed another tract to John Greene. Probably the 
purchases bv Coles and Greene, are the ones alluded to in Governor Win- 



40 

us for shelter, then lliey wcat about to l)ring tliosc parts to 
be under their jurisdictions, by all possible pretences and 
stretching their line for that purpose, thinking to get some 
color for their proceedings, yet fell they short of our planta- 
tion, fourteen or fifteen miles, as did evidently appear, and 
was by themselves acknowledged, and when they saw they 
could not accomplish their ends by that project, they then 
insinuated themselves into the minds of three ill-affected 
persons ' amongst us, that they should acknowledge them- 

throp's warrant of Oct. 28, 1642. It is difficult, if not impossible to ascer- 
tain the precise location or extent oftheso grants; all of them were howev- 
er to the Southward and Westward of Williams's first purchase. It is not 
probable that Massachusetts would have suftered Williams to make a settle- 
ment at Providence, if it had not been beyond their jurisdiction. It will be 
recollected that he was banished out of all their jurisdictions. We are as- 
sured also by Williams in a letter to Major Mason, that Gov. Winthrop 
♦'privately wrote to me to steer my course to the Narragansett Bay and In- 
dians, for many high and heavenly ends, encouraging me, from the fieenesa 
of the place from any English claims or patents." In the same letter he al- 
so says, that Gov. Winslow of Plymouth advised him after he had begun to 
build and plant at Seekonk to remove "but to the other side of the water, 
and then, he said, I had the country free before me, and might be as free 
as themselves." 

With these assurances from the Governors of Massachusetts and Ply- 
mouth, given before the settlement of Providence, the first settlers of Paw- 
tuxet, still more Southerly and Westerly than Providence, might reasonably 
suppose themselves out of the jurLsdiction of both of those colonies. — S. 

' Winthrop says four, and the record is, " William Arnold and Robert 
Coles, William Carpenter and Benedict Arnold, his company, upon their 
petition, are taken under our government and protection. William Arnold 
is to keep the peace in their land." Sav. Wint. vol. 2, page 83, in note. 
This was in September, 1642. Winthrop adds, " they were accepted un- 
der our government and protection, partly to rescue these men from vio- 
lence, and partly to draw in the rest in those parts under ourselves or Ply- 
mouth, who now lived under no government, but grew very offensive, and 
the place was likely to be of use to us, especially, if wc should have occa- 
sion of sending out against any Indians of NarraganseU, and likewise an 



50 

selves to be subjects unto them, and to depend upon them 
for protection and government, whom they had formerly 
cast out from amongst them, both out of their churches, and 
censured them also in their civil courts for gross and scan- 
dalous offences, as one Robert Cole,' whom they had cen- 
sured to wear a D on his back for a whole year, to pro- 
claim «nto all men his guiltiness of the sin of drunkenness, 
and had also cast him out of their Church, and delivered him 
unto Satan several times, who before, and in the time of this 

outlet into the Narragansett Bay; and seeing it came without our seeking, 
and would be no charge to us, we thought it not wisdom to let it slip." 

It will not probably be difficult at this time to decide which of these rea- 
sons had the greatest weight with the court. The assertion here made that 
" they lived under no government" was entirely without foundation. See 
next Note. — S. 

1 Robert Cole or Coles, came to this country probably, with the first set- 
tlers of Massachusetts. His name is among those who desired to be made 
freemen, in October, 1630, and he was admitted a freeman on the 18th of 
May following. Two men were chosen from each town in 1G32, to advise 
with the Governor and assistants about the raising of a public stock. Coles 
was one of the two chosen for Roxbury. The next year he went with 
Gov. Winthrop's son and others, to begin a plantation at Ipswich. In 
February following he " was ordered to wear a red D about his neck," hav- 
inf been often punished for drunkenness. He was one of the first settlers of 
Providence. His name is the fourth in the first deed made by Williams to 
the settlers. In 1640 Robert Coles, Chad Brown and Wm. Harris, as a com- 
mittee of the Providence Colony, reported a form of government, which was 
adopted, and which continued in force until the arrival of the first charter. 
The report may be found in Hazard's Historical Collections. Subsequently 
he removed to Shawomet, but at what time does not appear. His name is 
on the list of inhabitants received there, and is the thirty-second and next 
to the last on the list. He died before November, 1655, as appears from a 
deed of that date, made by John Coles to Mary Coles, widoTc of Robert 
Coles, of his interest in his father's estate. Besides this son, Robert Coles 
had two daughters, one of whom married Henry Townsend and the other 
Richard Townsend, both inhabitants of Shawomet. Henry Townsend re- 
moved to Oyster Bay, I ong-Is'aiid, before 1665. — S. 



51 

his submission usually conversed with, and was conversant 
amongst the Indians on the Sabbath days, professing the 
Indians' religion to be the same with that which the 
Massachvisctts professed and practised.* There was also 
one William Arnold, and his son Benedict ' who subjected 
themselves unto the Massachusetts, which Arnold was a 
great professor of religion in the West of Old England; but 
in the time of this his subjection, was known constantly to 
employ himself in servile work upon the Sabbath day and pro- 

*This speech of Robert Cole was uttered before many who can wit- 
ness it. 

'William Arnold was born in 1589. When became to this country 
cannot be ascertained; the first notice of him is in 1635, when he belonged 
to Hingham. He went to Providence, with Williams. His name is the 
second in Williams's first deed. He had four children, Benedict and Thom- 
as, born before his removal to Providence, Stephen, and a daughter who 
married Zachary Rhodes. Stephen lived and died at Pawtuxet on the old 
homestead farm. Thomas settled in that part of Providence, since called 
Smithfield. 

Benedict Arnold was born in England, Dec. 21, 1615. He probably 
came to this country and removed to Providence, with his father. He is 
not named in Williams's first deed, but was received a purchaser very soon 
after the date of it. He married Damaris, daughter of Stukely Westcott, 
by whom he had Godsgift, Josias, Benedict, Freelove, Oliver, Caleb, Da- 
maris and Priscilla. He removed to Newport 1653, and was admitted a 
purchaser there on 17th May in the same year. He died in 1678, 

Both William and Benedict Arnold were employed by the United Colo- 
nies in their negotiations with the Narragansetts. This act of submission to 
Massachusets, while it rendered them popular with that Government, gave 
great offence not only to Gorton and his company, but to their fellow col- 
onists at Providence. The prejudices against them arising from this circum- 
stance, were removed by their withdrawing themselves from the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts, and they both were elected to public offices in the 
colony. Benedict was one of the patentees named in the charter of Charles 
the Second to the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in 
1663, and was appointed first Governor under it. He afterwards held the 
same office by the choice of the freemen, for twelve years. — S. 



52 

fessed it to be his excellency above that which his neigh- 
bor had attained unto; his son Benedict constantly trading 
with the Indians on the Sabbath day, being a factor for them 
of the Massachusetts, being supplied witrh commodity from 
them, having toleration to sell powder to the Indians, but 
denied to be sold unto us, unless we would subject ourselves, 
as they had done; these pretended subjects of the Massa- 
chusetts, thus far-fetched, had learned this devise, that 
whereas some of us had small parcels of land laid out to 
build houses upon and plant corn, and all the rest lay com- 
mon and undivided, as the custom of the country for the 
most part is, they would not permit us any more land to 
build upon or to feed our cattle, unless we would keep upon 
that which they confess to be our proper right, and they 
would admit of no division but by the foot or by the inch, and 
then we could neither have room to set a house, but part of 
it would stand on their land, nor put a cow to grass, but im- 
mediately her bounds were broken; and then presently must 
the one be pulled down, and the other put into the pound to 
make satisfaction, or till satisfaction were made for both. 
So, that by this unreasonable and palpable slight of these pre- 
tended subjects, together with the power of this so irregu- 
lar a government, we plainly perceived a snare was laid to 
entangle us again; not only to hinder us to provide for our 
families, but to bereave us again of what, God, through our 
labor and industry, had raised up unto us as means to main- 
tain our families with. 

Now when the Massachusetts had gained these men to be 
instruments in this manner to effect their end, then did they 
institute them as officers to execute their warrants amongst 
us in those parts, upon any complaint these above named 
subjects should make unto them upon the grounds above 
mentioned; who presently sent a warrant unto us, to com- 
mand our appearance at their courts, under the hand of the 
Governor and divers of the assistants in the Massachusetts, 



53 



threatening to use violence against us, in case we obeyed 
not. 

A true coptj of the first warrcud Ihal zcas sent lado us from the 
Governor and Jlssislatds of the Massachiisclls, into Ike JVar- 
raganscit Bay, before we pla}dc(L upon thai tract of land 
called Shaiv-omet, situate upon the same Bay ; the warrant is 
here set down verbatim, and is still extant. 
Massachusetts to our Neighbors of Providence: 

Whereas, William Arnold of Pawtuxet,* and Robert 
Cole and others, have lately put themselves and their fam- 
ilies, lands and estates, under the protection and govern- 
ment of this jurisdiction, and have since complained to us, 
that you have since (upon pretence of a late purchase from 
the Indians) gone about to deprive them of their lawful in- 
terest confirmed by four years possession and otherwise, to 
molest them; we thought good therefore, to vvrite to you 
on their behalf, to give you notice, that they and their lands, 
&c. being under our jurisdiction, we are to maintain them 
in their lawful rights. If, therefore, you have any just title 
to any thing they possess, you may proceed against them in 
our court, where you shall have equal justice; but, if you 
shall proceed to any violence, you must not blame us, if we 
shall take a like course to right them. 

JO. WINTHROP, Governor.' 
THO. DUDLEY, 
RI. BELLINGHAM, 
INCR. NOWELL. 
The 28th of the 8th mo. 1642. 

*Pawtuxet is a place near Providence, where one or two of these their 
subjects had built houses, and at their pleasure, were both in Providence 
and also in Pawtuxet, having houses and land in both. 

' John Winthrop was the father of the Massachusetts Colony. lie arriv- 
ed in New-England, 1630. He held the office of Assistant four years, depu- 
ty Governor three years, and Govcrner twelve years. He died !\Iarcli 26, 



54 

This warrant being delivered unto us by their new made 
officer, William Arnold, in the name of the Massachusetts, 
we took into serious consideration, having former experi- 
ence abundantly of their unkind and inhumane dealing with 
us, yea, towards our waives and children, when ourselves 
were sometimes in banishments and sometimes in prison and 
irons (by them) before. We thought it meet, for the pre- 
servation of our peace, together with that compassion we 
had of our wives and little ones, to leave our houses and the 
rest of our labors lying near unto those their pretended 
subjects, whom we saw maliciously bent, and to remove 
ourselves and families further off from the Massachusetts, 
and such their coadjutors, being then amongst us. For we 
saw that they did not only endeavor to take away our live- 
lihood, but intended to take away our lives also, in case 
they could find a way to satisfy the country in doing of such 
an act and execution; for we had never accusation brought 
in against us, but what rose from the magistrates and the 
ministers; for we walked so as to do no man wrong, only 
justified the cause of our religion, as we had learned and re- 
ceived the principles thereof before we went amongst them; 
as also, the laws and government of this kingdom of Eng- 
land unto which we ever willingly acknowledged ourselves 



1649, aged 61 years. His History of New-England is by far the most in- 
teresting and valuable history of his times. 

Thomas Dudley was the first Deputy Governor of the Colony, and for 
many years Governor; and when he held neither of these otfices, he was 
one of the Assistants. At the date of this warrant, he was one of the As- 
sistants. He died July 31, 1653, aged 76 years. 

Richard Bellingham sustained the offices of Deputy, Assistant, Major 
General, Deputy Governor and Governor of the Colony, at various times, 
and with great ability. He died Dec. 7, 1673, having survived all the oth- 
er patentees named in the Massachusetts patent. He was an Assistant in 
1642. 

Increase Nowell held the office of Assistant from 1630 to 1655, and was 
Secretary of the Colony from 1641 to 1649. He died Nov. 11, 1655.— S. 



to be loyal subjects; and therefore, couUI not sufler ourselves 
to be intrenched upon by our leliow subjects, further thim 
the laws of our king and state do allow. 

Now, that they sought the lives of some of us, at thia time, 
is evident ; for John Warner,' citizen and freeman of London, 

' John Warner was one of the first purchasers ofShawomet. When he 
came to this country or where he landed, I have not been able to ascertain. 
The first records of Warwick appear to be in his hand-writing, lie was 
Town Clerk, member of Town Council, Deputy and Assistant for the town 
of Warwick, between the years 1647 and 1652. He was also Clerk or 
Secretary of the General Court of the colony of Providence Plantations in 
1648. I find the following curious records respecting him in Warwick. 

•'The 24th of April 16')2, at a town meeting or law-making assembly, 
ordered, that .Tolm Warner for his misdemeanors under annexed, is degrad- 
ed by the unanimous consent of the town, from bearing any office in the 
town, and that he is wholly disenabled forever hereafter bearing any office 
in the town, until he give the town satisfaction. 

•' It is further ordered, thac the abovesaid John Warner is put out from 
having any vote in the town concerning its affiiirs." 

The charges against John Warner are these: 

•' First. For calling the officers of the town, rogues and thifncs with re- 
spect to their office. 

Item. For calling the whole town rogues and thieves. 

Item. For threatening the lives of men. 

Item. For threatening to kill all the mares of the town. 

Item. For his contempt, in not appearing before the town now met, be- 
ing lawfully summoned by a summons from the officer, with two magis- 
trates' hands to it. 

Item. For threatening an officer of the colony in open court, that if he 
had him elsewhere, he would beat out his brains, as also calling him rogue. 

Item. For his employing an agent in his behalf, to write to the Massa- 
chusetts; thereby going about to enthral the liberties of the town, and to the 
great indignity of the honored State of England, wiio granted the said privi- 
leges unto us." 

This last charge is substantiated by a letter from Wm. Arnold to Massachu- 
setts dated 26th 2d month (April) 1652, in which he states he had written 
them a previous letter at the suggestion of Warner. It also appears from 
the Massachusetts records, that he had about this time, preferred a petition to 



56 

a man well known, who afterwards was one of tliose against 
whom they now prosecuted, having formerly had some busi- 

theni, to take off his banishment: for the General Court on 31st of May, 
1652 declare, " in answer to the petition of John Wanier, the Court judge 
not meet to take off his banishment, but grant him liberty to transport him- 
self and family to England from any of our ports, when occasion shall be 
presented." 

Soon after this proceeding of the town of Warwick, tho town of Provi- 
dence interfered in the matter; for at a town meeting on the 7th June, a let- 
ter is directed to be sent to Providence in answer "to the motions" of that 
town in relation to Warner. And also that a copy of" the declaration that 
hath been drawn up in the town, concerning John Warner, and the Dutch- 
men which hath been sent to the Bay and also to Providence," be sent to 
Mr Roger Williams. Gorton is also directed at the same meeting, to write 
a letter to Williams in the town's behalf, " to give him information con- 
cerning the town and colony's proceeding with John Warner and his wife." 
This communication, sent " to the Bay and also to Providence," cannot be 
found. 

At another town meeting in Warwick, on the 22d of June, it was order- 
ed, that the house and lot of John Warner be attached "on suspicion of in- 
sufferable treachery against the town," and he cited to appear at the next 
Court of Trials. 

On the 5th of July following, it is vuted, to resign up to the said John 
Warner his house and lot, which it is here stated had been attached "for 
breacli of the law of the colony." I regret that I have not been able to 
ascertain what law is alluded to, or how Warner had broken it. There 
was a protest against this last order, signed by Randall Ilolden, John Wickes, 
John Greene, Samuel Gorton and Robert Potter. 

On the 17th of the same month, Warner conveyed all his lands and 
properly to the town of Providence, Robert Williams, Thomas Olney and 
Thomas Harris of Providence, and Walter Todd and Henry Townsend of 
Warwick, in trust for the use and support of his infant daughter. An in- 
tended voyage to England is recited in the deed, as the reason for this con- 
veyance. In 1655, the town of Providence committed the care and custody 
of this child to Ezekiel HoUiman, her grandfather. Warner had been re- 
ceived a purchaser in Providence. He left a son John, who married Anna, 
dawghter of Samuel Gorton, and other children whose descendants are now 
numerous, but I can neither ascertain their names, nor any further particu- 
lars ill relation to Warner himself — S. 



57 

ness witli Master Winthrop, the Governor of the RTassachu- 
setts, he asked the said Warner (living then in the jNarragan- 
sett Bay) whether he knew one Samuel Gorton, (a man also, 
against whom they now prosecuted) who lived also in the said 
Bay, but at that time John Warner had not seen him, living a 
matter oftwenty miles one fiom the other. The Governor told 
him he was a man not fit to live upon the face of the earth; al- 
so one of the elders of the church of Boston, told a minister,* 
who reported it in the place where Gorton lived, that if they 
had Gorton at Boston, in the Massachusetts, he would hard- 
ly see his own house any more; yea, one IVIaster Collins,' a 

*OId Mr Oliver. — [Thomas Oliver was an elder of the Church at Bos- 
ton. He came to this country in 1631, and died in 1657. — S.] 

* Collins came to this couatry from St. Christopher's orBarbadoes, in the 
summer of 1640. He was persecuted there for his non-conformity. He 
landed first at New-Haven; afterwards taught a school at Hartford, and 
subsequently removed to Newport, where he became acquainted with Mrs. 
Ann Hutchinson, and married her daughter. In 1641 he went to Boston 
with his brother-in-law Francis Hutchinson. Soon after their arrival there, 
they were brought before the Governor and Council, to answer for a letter 
that Collins had previously written to some persons in Massachusetts, in 
which it was said, "there were many reproachful speeches." He acknow- 
ledged the letter, and defended the expressions contained in it as explained by 
him. Hutchinson agreed with him in some of his positions, and reviled the 
Church of Boston, of which he was a member. For these acts, they were 
both committed to prison; and at the next conrt, Collins was fined £I00, 
and Hutchinson £50, and sentenced to remain in prison till they gave secu- 
rity for the payment. Winthrop observes, " we assessed the fines higher, 
partly, that by occasion thereof, they might be the longer kept from doing 
harm, for they were kept close prisoners; and also, because that family 
had put the country to so much charge in the Synod and other occasions, to 
the value of £500 at least." Their fines were afterwards reduced to £40 
and £20, and their own bonds taken for security. When they were dis- 
missed, they were foi bidden to return to Massachusetts, on pain of death. 

The last, and which was, perhaps, the strongest reason assigned by Gov- 
ernor Winthrop for assessing their fines higher, does more honor to the 
Court as effieient financiers than as impartial judges. If Gorton, in the text, 
C 



58 

tnau of excellent parts of learning, and of an unblameable 
life amongst men, being minister of one of the Western Is- 
lands, from that report he heard of religion, came to New 
England, who married one of Mistress Hutchinson's daugh- 
ters, and being Francis Hutchinson his brother-in-law, was 
a member of the Church at Boston, who seriously consider- 
ing and laying to heart, the ways of their Church and the 
carriage of his brethren, consulting with the minister, the two 
young men could not have rest in their spirits till they went 
down to advise or debate the matter with the Church, though 
they were come out from them and lived on Rhode Island in 
the Narragansett Bay, and when they came to Boston, and 
the brethren were gathered together, either to give or re- 
ceive satisfaction ; when they saw the arguments produced by 
the minister and his brother to weight somewhat heavy, then 
the strongest of their church members of Boston, namely, 
the Governor and Assistants, cast them in prison, to regu- 
late their opinions that differed from them, and there kept 
them in durance for many months; but at the last, setting 
them at liberty, yet giving out some threatening words af- 
terwards, as though they would fetch them again, the young 
men could have no rest in their spirits day nor night, till 
they were gone out further from the Massachusetts than 
that island was, yea, under some foreign government where 

assigns the true object ©f their journey to Boston, our respect for the candor 
and Christian charity of their brethren who condemned them, will not be 
increased. 

In 2. Mass. Hist. Col. 10, 184, is a letter from the Church at Boston, 
to " their beloved .brother in the Lord Jesus," Francis Hutchinson, at "A- 
quethneck." From this it appears he had asked a dismission from that 
Church. There is no date to the letter, but that it was before he made this 
visit to Boston, is altogether probable, as is also the cause of that visit as- 
signed by Gorton. 

Hubbard says, page 341 , that " Collins had been a hopeful professor and 
preacher also privately, at Gloucester in England." — S. 



oO 



the Massachudctts could not pictciid to have any thing to 
do; tor they had heard that the Massachusetts intended to 
take in all the Narragansett Bay under their government 
and jurisdiction. Whereupon Master Collins came where 
the aforesaid Gorton and his family were, namely, at Prov- 
idence, and seriously advised him to go along to the Dutch 
plantations, or else to the Sweed, for upon his knowledge, 
the Massachusetts intended, in short time, to take away 
his life, if he abode in any of the English plantations, for 
he had received certain information thereof, whilst he was 
amongst them, shewing great affection to move him there- 
unto. Gorton thanked him kindly for his love, being but a 
stranger to him; but told him he could not go under a for- 
eign prince for protection, till he saw further than yet he did, 
knowing he had neither been false to lys king nor country, 
nor to his conscience in point of religion, so far as God had 
informed him. But Master Collins and his brother, to- 
gether with their mother and whole family, for fear, remov- 
ed to the Dutch plantation, with divers other friends and 
families, who were miserably massacred by those barbarous 
Indians, (both men, women and children) being then at war 
with the Dutch, who took some of the English children, out 
of families of good note, as captives; and keep and train 
them up amongst themselves unto this day, having most 
barbarously and cruelly slain their parents, who had been 
not a little careful to train them up in their life time, both in 
faith and 'manners. But we removing ourselves as above- 
said, into another part of the Narragansett Bay, further 
from the Massachusetts, and where none of the English 
nor other nations had any thing to do, but only Indians, the 
true natives, of whom we bought a parcel of land,* called 

' A copy of this deed is given in Appendix No. 13. Shawomet was that 
part of Warwick township, now called Old Warwick. It is about ten 
miles South of Providence, on the West side of Narragansettt Bay, and more 
than twenty-five South of the South line of 3Iassachusctts, From what is 



60 

Shavvoiuet, (us is abovesnid) not only of Miantonomi, chief 
Sachem or Prince of those parts of the country, but also 
with the free consent of the inhabitants of the place. 

Now we plainly perceiving that the drift of the Massa- 
chusetts, and those joined with them, was not only to take the 
whole country of the English plantations into their jurisdic- 
tion, but also to establish what way of religion themselves 
thought fit; to the taking away, not only of goods, but lives 
also, of such as were otherwise minded; we made answer 
unto the writing they had sent unto us, on this wise; which 
answer was made upon our removal from Blooshawset, oth- 
erwise called Providence, to Shawomet: 

A true copy of our answer to the icarrant or U'riting, which the 
men of Massachusetts sent unto us, as is above noted; where- 
in we only take up their own expressions, to shoio unto them 
the sjiirit and power of their religion ivhich they go about by 
these means to preserve, enlarge, andsheiv the glory of, to the 
ivorld. The answer is verbatim, examined by the original 
copy, only margi7ial notes added, to help the reader to under- 
stand our true meaning. 

MoosHAWSET, November the 20, 1642. 
To OUR Neighbors of the Massachusetts. 

Whereas we lately received an irregular* note, profess- 
ing its form from the Massachusetts, with four men's names 
subscribed thereunto (as principal authors of it) of the chief 

stated afterwards, I am induced to believe that the name of Nicholas Power 
was in the original deed, as a purchaser, although it is omitted in the rec- 
ord of it. Power styles himself one of the purchasers, in the second letter to 
Massachusetts, in the text; and Gorton enlarges upon the wonderful coinci- 
dence between the number of the purchasers and the price paid for Shawo- 
met, the purchasers being twelve in number, and each paying twelve fathom 
of wampum peage. — S. 

* Irregular, because it went beyond their bounds and jurisdictions limited 
unto them. 



61 

amongst you, wc could not easily give credit unto the (ruth 
thereof; not only, because the conveyers of it unto us are 
known to be men, whose constant and professed acts are 
worse than the countcrfeitings of mens' hands; but also, be- 
cause we thought that men of your parts and profession would 
never have prostrated their wisdom to such an act. J3ut, 
considering that causeless enmity you have against us, the 
proof whereof every occasion brings forth, we cannot but con- 
clude that no act so ill, which that ancient mother will not 
bring forth her seed unto.* For we know very well that it is 
the name of Christ, called upon us which you strive against, 
whence it is that you stand on tiptoe to stretch yourselves be- 
yond your bounds, to seek occasion against us, so as you 
might hide your sin with Adam ;]' bearing the world in hand, 
it is not your desire to contend with us, but some civil breach 
in our course, which you seek to redress; whereas, neither 
you nor any, in way of truth, can find wherewith to bring us 
under a censure of a disorderly course of walking amongst 
them. And as for the way of that ancient spirit of accusa- 
tion of the brethren; we weigh it not, knowing him to be a 
liar, (or in the abstract, a lie) from the beginning, yea, and 
the father of it also, which thing you cannot know, though 
it were told unto you, whereas, you say, Robert Cole, Wil- 
liam Arnold, with others, have put themselves under the 
government and protection of your jurisdiction, which is the 
occasion yovi have now got to contend, we wish your words 
were verified, that they were not elsewhere to be found, J 

* That is, the wisdom of the flesh, conversant about the things of God, 
brings forth un'.o cruelty, all them in whom it is found so exercised. 

t By dissembling the cause of their proceedings against us, to be another 
thing, than indeed it vi^as, even as Adam laid the fault upon the woman ; 
whereas indeed she came out of his own side, and was confessed to be flesh 
of his flesh, and bone of his bone. 

t But only among themselves within the bounds of their own jurisdictions, 
as they aflirm them to be; though without any ground or rule of true govern- 
ment. 



62 

beiu"^ nothing but the shame of religion, disquiet, and dis- 
turbance of the places where they are; for we know, nei- 
ther the one nor the other, with all their associates and con- 
federates, have power to enlarge the bounds, by King 
Charles limited unto you." Behold, therefore, in this your 
act, a map of your spiritual estate, to use your own phrase; 
for we know, that the spirituality of your Churches, is the 
civility of your Commonwealth, and the civility of your 
Commonwealth is the spirituality of your Churches; the 
wisdom of man being the whole accomplesenseof them both, 
of which tree you delight daily to eat,* finding it fair and 
beautiful, to gain conformity with your Maker, in these 
your dissembling subjects, grossly profane amongst us, but 
full of the spirit of your purity. | When they are with you, 
you may remember the brand yourselves have set on some of 
them, the cause whereof was never yet removed, J though 
it abide not on their backs, § nor yet, the cause of your com- 
mitment of them unto Satan (according to your law;) for if 
that were removed, you should do them wrong in not resum- 
ing your vomit into its former concoction again. jj Nor are 

* The tree of the knowledge of good and evil paralelled, with the wisdom 
of man, exercising itself in the things of God. 

t That is, the spirit of painted hypocrisy. 

t The sin being still continued in. 

§ That is, the mark which was worn to proclaim it to all. 

II That is, in not receiving them into the operations of that boiling church 
fellowship again, wherein they still walked. 

'The first settlers of Massachusetts always acted upon the presumption, 
that the submission of any person or plantation to their government, gave 
them jurisdiction over the place where the person resided, or plantation waa 
erected. Thus the submission of the two Arnolds, Cole, and Carpenter, 
gave them as full jurisdiction over the lands where they dwelt, as over those 
embraced in their charter. How it was possible for such men as composed 
the Massachusetts Colony, to entertain such an opinion, is exceedingly 
strange. Their political existence and all their powers of government, were 
derived from a charter which exactly defined the territorial extent of their 
jurisdiction. — S. 



G3 

we ignorant of those disgracoful terms they use, and give 
out against you behind your backs. Their submission, 
therefore, cannot be to any other end, but to satisiy 
their own lusts, not only conceived, but in violent mo- 
tion against their neighbors, who never offered the least 
wrong unto them; only the proposition of amity, is object 
sufficient for these mens' enmity. Even so, the passions of 
sin which are by the law, having force in your members, 
you going about with great labor and industry to satisfy 
them by your submission unto the word of God, in your fast- 
ing and feasting, in contributing and treasuring, in retired- 
ness for study, and bowing of the backs of the poor, going 
forth in labor to maintain it, and in the spirit of that hire- 
ling, raising up your whole structure and edifice; in all 
which, you bring forth nothing but fruit unto death. Some 
laboring for a price to give for the keeping of their souls in 
peace and safe estate and condition;* some to have your 
bodies furnished with riches, honor and ease,| and further 
than the Lord Jesus agrees with these, you mind him not; 
nay, you renounce and reject him, and with these (ac- 
cording to your acceptation and practice) he holds no cor- 
respondency at all, being the consultation and operation 
of that his only adversary. J Man being that which you 
depend upon, and not the Lord, crying out in the way of el- 
evation, and lauding his ministers, when, in the mean time, 
you know not what, nor who they are, professing them un- 
der a mediate call of Christ, though formerly they have been 
called immediately by him, hereby shewing yourselves to 
be those which destroy the sacred ordinance of God; for if 

* That is, carefully labor to pay wages to the minister for that end, either 
in way of contribution, or else. 

+ That is, the ministers and magistrates study, teach and execute, to atlain 
such ends. 

t That Is, the wisdom of the flesh exercised in the things of God. 



(34 



you make Christ to be that to-day in stating of his ministers, 
which he was not yesterday, and ^liat in the time of the 
gospel also, to speak according to your law, to be found in 
them both, you therein affirm he hath been that to his min- 
isters, which now he is not; and to make the Son of God to 
have been that which now he is not, to make a nullity of 
him, not to be at all; for he is the Lord that changeth not, 
no; not a shadow thereof is found in him. So that you 
plainly crucify to yourselves the Lord of Glory, and put him 
to an open shame; so that as you know not how Christ con- 
versing with his Father in Heaven is found on the earth 
amongst the true worshippers, no more do you know how 
in his conversing with Nicodemus on the earth, he con- 
cludes himself to be in Heaven with his father. On this 
foundation, hangeth the whole building of your doctrine 
concerning the sufferings of Christ. You annihilate the 
Cross, than the which the saints have no other consolation; 
and prepare no belter a place than purgatory for the hono- 
rable fathers of our Lord: for, ye conclude, that Christ 
died in the decree and purpose of God in the time of the 
law, but actually only when he hanged on the cross in the 
days of Herod and Pontius Pilate, that he was crucified in 
the types and shadows of the law; but in the truth and sub- 
stance, when he appeared born of the Virgin Mary. So 
must ye also conclude that the fathers under the law, were 
only saved in purpose and decree, in types and shadows, 
but, actually and substantially only at the coming of Christ 
in the flesh. Therefore, deal plainly with those that depend 
upon you for instruction, as your ancestors in the Papacy 
have done, and proclaim a place of purgatory provided for 
them in the mean, without which your doctrine hath no foun- 
dation; for if you raise up a shadovv without a substance, and 
the substance of him that dwelleth in light without a shad- 
ow, you play the part of wizards or necromancers, not the 
part of true naturalists in the things of the kingdom of God, 



(id 

so lluU ;i.s I'ai' a.-i yuiir men are,' lioiii hciug lioiiuiublt' :.inJ 
loyal subjects, so far are you trom being voluntaries in the 
clay of God's power, and from yielding subjection to tlie 
beauties of holiness. Such also is your preferment, lule 
and government, in the things that concern the kingdom oi' 
our God, they are infinitely beyond and out of the reach of 
that spirit that is gone out amongst you, the capacity 
whereof can, nowise, comprehend the breadth of the land 
of Emanuel, nor enteretli it within the vail? Therefore it 
cannot know those cherubim of glory, neither can it h.oar 
the voice of (hat lively oracle, speaking only from off the 
covering mercy seat, and not elsewhere to be heard. We 
speak not, but what we know, these things are not of its 
jurisdiction; therefore, dumb in telling justice, neither 
speaks it any of that righteousness and glory comprised iu 
another circuit than you were yet made lords of There- 
fore, long may you boast of your jurisdiction before you at- 
tain to juris prudentia in these things. In that you tell us 
we offer wrong by a pretended purchase, you are as much 
mistaken in the purchase as in the wrong, for it is right 
that we are about to do; neither is our purchase a pretence, 
but precedential, not only in this civil respect, but may also, 
admonish all men to take heed how they depend upon false 
and self-seeking interpreters, when both themselves and 
they that have the vision, are ignorant of the contract and 
covenant of God.| Thence it is, that you teach, that the 
spouse of Christ, upon contract v/ith her Lord, may con- 
ceive the seed of immortality and bring forth fruit unto 
the Lord, when as yet the day of marriage, that great 



* That !.■<, tlieir .<ubjocts so far fetched who lived amongst us. 

\ Aniol(t"s .son Benedict, being i.-itorpicter botwonn the Indians uLioiit us, 
iiiid c!ie .M.issaehii:rett-:, seeking to get i=oiiic advantage against us by the In- 
dians, to blind tlio country, as tliou-jh thoy had a just quarrel; we seeing and 
knowing llio fi!>ii\- tlioicof, do apply tb.o thing to their >piiitunl cour*" llipy 
wal!< in. 

C* 



G6 

fes-livily and solemnization of th<> consohilions of God, 
is not yet come: witness your prorogation tliereof, if not to 
the descention of Christ from heaven to the earth, to reign 
certain years: yet to the calling of tie Jews, whom ye your- 
selves are according to the flesh, and to the destruction of 
that man of sin, whom you so stoutly maintain. What is this 
l)ut to proclaim to all the world that audacious spirit of 
whoredom, professing conception and bringing forth before 
the nuptial day, in that you conclude your clients' right to 
arise out of four years' possession. We have no such or- 
der, if you mean the right of conquest only held in that ten- 
ure; the true owners were never yet subdued; for that is 
the right they expect to enjoy by you. For some of them 
coniinitted part of their supposed right unto us, professing 
it was, that, they might have help to enjoy the rest;* but 
v.hen they saw that we would not be abettors unto them 
without, much less, contrary unto covenant, then they fly 
unto you for help,"]" their possession being a mere intrusion, 
as all the natives know, and ever exclaimed against them 
for the same; and so may our countrymen also, whose eyes 
fire not dazzled with envy, and ears operi unto lies, as wc 
know yours are; else, you had heard both sides speak, 
Ijefore you had judged. But we profess right, held in no 
BLich interest, but according to the ground of covenant, only 
knou-n in its nature in the parties twixt whom it is plight, 
in the possessor and the possessed, with the nature of all 
fruit arising from their accord and concurrency, together 
v.ilh their distinct, harmonical, reciprocal and joint proper- 
tics and operations of them botii. Such is the tenure that 
we hold, and maintain it before men and angels, und oppose 
it against men and devils; not in taking up unto ourselves 



* As Kobeit Cole did, tlieir subject now, since that tiji.e ?o ir.ade. 
t The Indians denying at liiat liuic, a pcift-ct and full purdiase of ihat 
phw'e. where lh;';e thei: sulijoci^ liiul built h.ou-rs. o.-illcd Pawtiixet. 



(»7 

eciUuii mUUcs and olliccrri, wliicli wc ciiu (each cluldicii to 
be anU to perlbrm, aiul Iroin thence presently to concludu 
the possession ol' the kingdom, crying out, our peace ofter- 
ings are upon us, this day we have paid our vows.* But that 
dark cloud that descended on the Tabernacle, becomes the 
light and glory of all Israel, there being nothing aeknowl- 
cd"-ed amongst them, but whiit ariieth out thence; then, 
and tlieuoiily, are tlic orders, as, also the men of Israel, dc^ 
rived from their true fountain, which no tongue can confess, 
but is salvation, and then, not else, is the heritage of our 
Lord in possession; yea, even the wayless wilderness knows 
how to aflbrd them a habitation, which had its being before 
the hills and mountains were born, which men begin to fly 
unto, for refuge to hide themselves from the presence of the 
Lamb.j This is a possession which no man can intrude 
himself into. It is only covenanted with him through an 
enlightened eye and bored ear, which man performeth not; 
neither can it be received from him; for we know that cloud 
of thick darkness, that hides and covers the wliole frame 
and fabric of the work of God,;J: to be the clearing and evi- 
dencing of every point and particular thereof, i ea, to us 
it is even that cloud of witness, which testifies to us the 
like work to appear, whenever the world hath occasion to 
make use of us- Never doth it shine but in the night; nev- 
er is it dark to Israel, but in the day; but in the one and the 
other, the only glory and safety of all the tril)cs; but how, 
you know not, neither can you, w-ith all your libraries, give 

* Alluding to the harlot spoken of in the Proverbs, whose practice is such 
in spiritual things, as well as there is a literal sense of it. Prov. vii. 13 to 23. 

t llev. vi. 16. For there was nothing done to these men that seemed to 
shelter themselves under the Massachusetts, but only opening the word ol" 
(ioD amongst them, which is the revelation of the face or presence of tlm 
Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. 

t Alluding to tlin 'I'abcrnaclr, wliicli il cov^ictl, and -u Mjjplicd <=iiiritual!_v- 
ill liic wav of" 'hrist. 



03 



the interpretation thercot^, but have lost it in the wilder- 
ness, and accordingly have made the whole way and will of 
our Lord, the oldness of the letter, both to yourselves and 
all that have an ear to listen unto you. Thence it is that 
the day of the Lord is a day of darkness and gloominess un- 
to you, but of joy and gladness unto us; yea, it lifts up our 
head only,* and then is our salvation near; for we knov/ 
the worthies of David doubled about the bed of Solomon, 
which expels all the fear in the night, handling the sword 
with success, making the adversaries nothing but meat to 
feed upon,! so that the time of your fear, is the time of 
our courage and conquest; for when ye fear error, schism, 
rents and confusions in Church and State, then do we know 
the messenger of the covenant, the Lord Whom we seek, is 
speeding his passage into his holy temple; for who (under 
the terrors of your spirit) may abide his coming, he being 
like a refiner's tire and fuller's soap. 

In that you invite us into your Courts, to fetch your equal 
balanced justice upon this ground, that you are become one 
with our adversaries, and that, both in what they have and 
what they are; and we knov/ them to be such as profess the 
day of the Lord, an unhallowed thing. Now if we have our 
opponent to prefer his action against us, and not so only, but 
to be our counsel, our jury and our judge, (for so it must be, 
if you are one with them, as you affirm,) we know, before 
hand, how our cause will be ended, and see the scale of your 
equal justice turned already, before we have laid our cause 
therein; and cannot but admire to see you carried so con- 
trary to your own received principles; for ye know not how 
to find Christ as a ruling and teaching elder, both in one 
person; therefore he is not complete among you, by (your 
own law,) except in several persons; and you may thank 



* Meaning ChiUt and not ourselves, to set up the flesh. Luke xxi. 28. 
t That h, all Kinds of incuiiibrances, they meet with in this life. Isa. xli. 2. 



69 

tradition, else, you know no more liow lo find a king and a 
priest in Him; and yet, in your way ofmaking tender of your 
justice unto us, you know how to become one with our ad- 
versaries, so as if we deal with them, v.c deal with you; 
and if we have to do with you, we have to do with them al- 
so; yea, further, we know that the chief amongst you have 
professed we arc not worthy to live, and if some of us vvere 
amongst you, we should hardly see the place of our abode 
any more. 

Now, they that have brooded upon their law, to take away 
life, they must much more bring it forth in taking away all 
means of life; witness your prohibition, that no powder 
should be sold unto us for our money, and that in a time 
when you could not think yourselves safe in all your own self- 
provision and vvorldly furniture, except you disarmed a com- 
pany of poor Indians, whom Aaron, your Levitical sacrificer 
hath made naked;* as he doth all those which triumph in a 
calf, though the most costly and beautiful that the jewels 
and ear-rings of learning, either in language or art, can pos- 
sibly bring forth. Your ovvn amazements upon mere ru- 
mors, may testify the truth thereof. So then, we are judg- 
ed by your law, before our cause be heard, or ourselves 
brought forth under the liberties of it, which thing is well 
pleasing to us,1o have our condition conformed to Moses, the 
man of God, who was dead, in Pharoah's account, before he 
was brought forth. | And so it was with Christ our Lord, in 
the days of Herod also, who is our life; at which you strike, 
and make all things, yea, death itself, lively and advanta- 

*By alluding to that bodily nakedness of tlie Indians, whom tliey disarm- 
ed, shewing that spiritual nakedness which the works of the law or Leviti- 
cal priesthood brings men under, whoever they be, that are exorcised in such 
ways. 

t For in Pharoah's edict and Herod's also, they were slain before they 
were born. 



70 

f'eou;, unto us. W c caimot but wonder that you should read 
tlie Scriptures and not find them fuliilled in and amongst 
yourselves, when us they appear so apparently, that he that 
r.ins may read them. What think you of Herod, when the 
Lord had delivered Peter out of prison, and released him of 
those bonds, and brought him from that thraldom which he 
had so cruelly imposed upon him, to gain the favor of the 
Jews, and that by a power supereminently transcending the 
bounds of his authority,* and by a wisdom surpassing the 
depth of his counsel and policy to find out, together with 
the soldiers and champions, he presently goes down to Cses- 
area, and Herod is angry with them of Tyrus and Sydon , 
(Themomathon) a heavy friend or hath a secret grudge or 
perturbation of mind manifested in an outreaching and cir- 
cumventing policy to subdue them unto himself, that he 
might rule over them, finding himself iall short of power 
and policy to subject the word of God in the messenger of 
it, to satisfy his ovvn lust in his lordship over it, he pursues 
with all eagerness to make himself a God, by reigning over 
the bodies and estates of men; yea, though they be but 
such as Tyrus and Sydon can afford unto him to make sub- 
jects of; and when they are come to him with one accord 
to make ofler of themselves in yielding to his affectionate 
and political project, he sitting on the judgment-seat in his 
royal apparel, making his oration of what power he hath to 
protect them, what wisdom and counsel to minister justice 
and righteousness unto them, which oliice belongs only un- 
to the Lord, the people, with a shout, crying out, the 
voice of God and not of man; the truth and substance of 
which cry is, this is the ordinance of God and not of man. 
Immediately the angel of the Lord smites him, and he that 
ever acknowledged himself to be a worm, and no man upon 

* Tint is, til- authority of that wicked llciod. Acts, .\ii chapter, tin ouijli- 
out. 



71 

IIkj oartli, consumes and cats up all his ptinp and olory ; 
even as those whom you account the shame and contempt of 
the people, shall, ihrough tliat angel of the covenant, waste 
and bring to nought all those rhetorical, though earthly, 
orations that are made amongst you, by your so learned, 
studious and experienced clerks. Take for illustration of 
your estate as above, the speech of your Alderman Oliver, 
in case of committing Francis Hutchinson to prison; one of 
your church members, wondering that Brother VVinthrop 
would do it before the Church had dealt with him; Brother, 
saith he, why, he is thy God, man. Send your eye yet fur- 
ther, to parallel your practise personated in Pilate and the 
people. When Pilate offers Jesus to the people to be judg- 
ed, they profess they have su<;li a law that puts no man to 
death; they are all for mercy and forgiveness, when they 
are out of the judgment-hall; but let Pilate enter in thith- 
er, then nothing but, crucify him, crucify him, be their ac- 
cusation and witnesses never so false; even so in your deal- 
ings with men in way of your Jewish brotherhood, your law- 
is all for mercy, to redress, to reform, and for the preserva- 
tion both of soul and body; do but enter into the common 
hall, then as Pilate asked, am I a Jew, so do ye; do I sit 
or speak here as a brother, I trow not, I am now in a 
higher sphere, than that (thongh they be acknowledged co- 
heirs with Christ) can attain unto; therefore if witness be 
brought in and oath taken, though never so untrue, your 
consciences are purged by law, and your power must have 
tribute paid unto it; so far as mens' names to be branded 
with infamy, (estates,) depriving women and children of 
things necessary, and the precious lives of men can extend 
themselves to contribute any thing thereunto, so that thev 
professed mercy and clemency of your law to exercise cen- 
sures only for amendment of life, and recovery, comes unto 
this issue, to send both soul and body down to Shcoll forev- 
er, without redres? aiid nil Iiopc of roeovr-rv. liut \ our 



?•'>. 



huur and the puwcr ul" darkness, is kiiuwii wlitit it is; cither 
to have men's persons in admiration, because of advantage, 
or else to seek all occasions against them, to brand them 
with all manner of reproach and ignominy ; but for the truth 
taught daily in the temple, you know not how to stretch out 
your hand or exercise your ministry against it, lest it be- 
come leprous, and you take it back again with loss, when it 
appears dry and withered. And wherefore reason ye 
amongst yourselves, saying, we exercise the power of min- 
istration against none but such as are delinquents; where- 
by we clear the innocent, and establish peace in our bor- 
ders; we demand, what think you of those two witnesses, 
prophesying in sackcloth a thousand two hundred and three- 
score days, those two olive trees and candlesticks standing 
before the God of the earth? Are these guilty and vile per- 
sons, out of whose hands by the power of your ministry, 
you are delivering and releasing the world? Then, indeed, 
are your ways justifiable. But if these be the just, chosen 
and peculiar friends of God, such as without which, his 
truth and righteousness are not justified, his wisdom and 
holiness maintained and upheld in the world, in point of sal- 
vation by Christ; then, are your ways wicked, and to be 
abhorred; for in your professed course, you are they by 
whom they are slain and put to death, and all your glory is 
to keep their corpses unburied in your streets; and yet you 
know not what you are doing, no more than you know what 
these witnesses are v.liom you are altogether ignorant of; 
for your libraries never saw them, and you see not but by 
their eyes,* for these are two and never more; nor yet less, 
yea, ever the same. They are olive trees, else no witness- 
es, and also candlesticks, else both the former fail; yea, 
are not at all. We must tell you what these are, else we 
cannot declare how yc kill them; for it is not our interest 

*'i'h;it is, by ■vvh;it liirht ihrv find in other motiH' works. 



73 

to open unto you the house of the treasures, the silver and 
the gold, the spices and the precious ointment, nor the 
house of our armor; because ye take us all as execrable, 
and put all to a profane use that cometh from us. But 
these two witnesses are the life and death of our Lord Je- 
sus Christ,* or (in the true language of heaven also) the 
strength and weakness of Christ; for he was crucified 
through weakness, but liveth by the power of God. This 
is the word of the Lord in Zorobabel, not by an army nor 
by power, (and so deprives him of all strength,) but by a 
spirit that the greatest mountain or loftiest hill in tlie world 
cannot stand before, but becomes a plain, which with facil- 
ity and ease he passethupon; thence, it is that he doth not 
only lay the top or head-stone of all, but also the lowest in 
the foundation, and then only, is the voice of shouting heard, 
Grace, — Grace, in the house forever; and then doth the 
day of small things become the day of joy and triumph, yea, 
of parting the rich spoils and prey of all the world; for then, 
he that doth but turn and lift up his eyes, he cannot look 
besides that great flying book of the curse, that is gone 
forth over the whole earth, without these two witnesses 
jointly uttering themselves in every particular scripture un- 
dertaken to be divulged by any; no evidence nor testimony 
of God is given, or brought in at all, but a mere refuge of 
lies for the souls of men to betake themselves unto, without 
these two pipes of the olive trees emptying into the bowls 
of the candlesticks, no unction nor oil at all is found in them; 
and that being wanting, the light of the sanctuary is gone 
out; so that the light appearing amongst you, is only the 
light of Balaam, whose eye was open, which you may read 
either Shethum, or Sethum;! for that opening is nothing 

* Which comprehend hij kingdom and priesthood set forth unto us in Josh- 
ua the High Priest,and Zorobabel, in their return out of Babylon tore-edify 
the temple; as in Zecliary, the third and fourth chapters. 

t Which signifies either opened or shut, as in Numb. xxiv. 3, 4. 
D 



74 

else but the shutting up of the holy things of God, so that 
in seeing, ye see not; but communicate only in the light of 
that beast who puts the witnesses to death; as Balaam did 
in the sight of that dumb beast of his, whose eyes were so 
opened as to see the Angel before him.* So that while you 
think it is our wisdom to stoop unto you for light, we never 
come amongst you, but see ourselves in a regiment of gross 
and palpable darkness, and discern you very plainly how 
you scrabble upon the wall, to find the door of Lot's house, 
and cannot; as also, how you toil yourselves to climb up in- 
to thesheepfold another way, yea, so many other ways; and 
have no sight nor discerning of the door at all, by the which 
whosoever entereth, becomes a true feeder of the flock; 
yea, none entereth in thereat but the true shepherd himself. 
Most impious it is to put to death two such noble Avitnesses, 
that have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days 
of their prophesying, to turn waters into blood, and to smite 
the earth with all manner of plagues as oft as they will; 
whom, that spirit that is amongst you, kills on this wise. 
The life and power of the Son of God as above, t which is in- 
finite, not admitting of circumscription or contenent, for the 
heaven of heavens cannot contain him; yet, have ye not 
dared to grasp and environ that power in the heavens; and 
therefore, have resolved and concluded that he only rules 
upon the earth in these days, by his deputies, lieutenants, 
and vicegerents, whereby you limit, and so destroy the Ho- 
ly One of Israel; for, give him that in one time or place, 
which afterwards, or elsewhere, ye deny unto him, and you 
make a nullity of him unto yourselves; and in so doing you 
kill the other witness, the death or weakness of the Lord Je- 

*Numb. xxii. 25,. 27. That is, before Balaam, so that the beast and- 
Balaain have the same light and look. 

t Being one of the two witnesses before noted, or his power and kingly 
authority. 



75 

sus;* for you must have man to be honorable, learned, wise, 
experienced and of good report, else they may not rule 
amongst you; yea, and these things are of man, and by 
riian, as peers, in that they only ofliciate so as man may dis- 
annul and take it away again; witness your change of offi- 
cers, constantly speaking to us herein. Thus have you 
slain also, the death or the weakness of Christ, who pro- 
fesseth himself to be a worm, and no man, the shame and 
contempt of the people; and to these faithful and true wit- 
nesses thus slain, you must, of necessity, deny burial, and 
keep them both in your streets in open view; otherwise 
all your pomp and glory fails to the dust'j" whence it came, 
and on which it feeds; nor can you send your presents one 
to another, of your acts of justice, power to protect, wealth, 
honor and friends, wherewith you gratify one another. And 
where these are thus slain, and their corpses lie in open 
view, none of the Gentiles, peoples, tongues and kindreds, 
suff'ering their corpses to be put in the grave, there is that 
great city, which spiritually is called Sodom, and Egypt, 
where our Lord is crucified. But after three days and an 
half, the spirit of life, from God, shall enter into them, and 
they shall stand up, upon their feet, to the terror of you all. 
Nor do you think that we only inveigh against the great 
ones of the world, for thus doing; for we know, that the 
greatest of the princes of this world, hath the very same 
spirit, wherewith the basest peasant, hath laid himself open 
in the view of all .the world; and the basest peasant, hath 
the same spirit with the greatest of the princes of this world. 
These, we say, are the two witnesses, if you can receive it; 

* Which is his priesthood, wherein he deprives himself of all power of 
man, or strength of the arm of flesh. 

t That is, if the power of God and the weakness and frailty of man 
should not be so slain, as to be still kept as dead in sight of all, then could 
not the power and glory of the creature (as vicegerent unto the power and 
glory of God, in his absence) be seen, set np and made known. 



76 

and what dishonor is it to trade so much by means of wit- 
nesses, and yet, know not what a true witness is; which, if 
you did, you durst not attempt the things ye do, whereby 
you cast a reproach upon all the world, in that you profess 
yourselves, a choice people picked out of it; and yet, you 
go on with such practices as you do, maintaining fhem as 
your only glory. Our Lord gives you in charge, not to 
swear at all; but it is your dignity to bring men to your 
seats of justice, with nothing but oaths in their mouth. 
Why do you not balance the Scriptures in this point? It 
hath been said of old. Thou shalt not commit adultery; but, 
I say unto you, he that looketh on a w^oman to lust after her, 
hath committed adultery with her in his heart, already. So, 
also, it hath been said of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself; 
but, I say unto you, swear not at all; so that if it be adultery 
to look, to lust — it is also forswearing of a man's self, to 
swear at all; if one be adultery, the other is perjury; if one 
be admitted in some cases, the other also ; so that in preach- 
ing the toleration, nay the duty of an oath, you preach the 
toleration, yea, the duty of adultery itself. So that our 
Lord plainly evinceth unto all mens' consciences, not only 
the guilt, but the folly and madness of the oath of man, to 
shew how far it is from investing into place or demonstrating 
causes. So that he that concludeth upon honor and power 
received from the oath of man, or upon knowledge and 
boldness to judge in a cause, from that testimony, with- 
out the which he could not have it, is as vain in his thoughts, 
as if he should hereupon conclude, I have now altered the 
frame of Heaven, which is no less stable than the throne of 
the great God; or demolished the earth, which is as firm as 
his footstool forever; or made a fraction in the orders of 
Jerusalem, that choice and peculiar city of the great King, 
whose institutions no mortal breath can intrench upon; or to 
profess his authority and skill to be such, whereby he can 
make a hair of his head black or white, viz. cause his age 



77 

to wax old us a gaiiueut, or to renew il, with the eagle, at hid 
pleasure. Hereby doth man in this point of swearing, pro- 
fess his folly to be such, that he is become not only vain 
in his imaginations, but to that pride and usurpation there- 
in, as*to intrude himself into the prerogative royal of his 
Maker; so that howsoever ye boast of the ordinances of 
God, yet he tells you, there is no more than yea, yea, and 
nay, nay, in them; for that which is once nay, is ever nay, 
in the ordination of Christ; and what is once yea, is ever 
yea. With him, and according to his account, (howsoever 
man reckoneth, whoso accounts shall be called over again) 
what is once the curse, is ever the curse, and that which is 
once the principality and power of Christ, is ever the prin- 
cipality and power of Christ; as that which is once the prin- 
cipality and power of darkness is ever the same, what hands 
soever it cometh into: for manifestation, measure your 
kingdom whether it be eternal, and your jurisdiction wlieth- 
er it be unlimited; for he hath given him the heathen for 
his inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for his pos- 
session, and a kingdom of less extent he professeth not ; 
nor can he approve or acknowledge any that do, no more 
than light can approve of darkness, or the Lord Jehovah of 
the lord Baal. Be wise, therefore, and bethink yourselves, 
while it is called to-day ; harden not your hearts, as though 
you would make yourselves Meribah, nothing but strife and 
contention against the Lord; rather, kiss the Son, if it be 
possible, lest his wrath kindle, and you perish from the way 
forever. Oh, blessed only they that hope in him, so that he 
who professeth on this wise, it is yea, I am a pastor; but it 
was nay, at such a time I was none at all. He renounceth 
that spirit of the true pastor, yea, the only feeder of Israel; 
but professeth that spirit only, that pusheth the weak with 
the horn, and puddleth with his feet the waters where the 
flock of God should drink. He with whom it is yea, I am 
a ruler, but it wa?, nay, when I was none; renounceth that 



78 

spirit of Wun tluit rules in righteousness, professing the spirit 
of him that rules according to the god of this world, the 
prince of the power of the air, who is now working so ef- 
fectually in the children of disobedience: so also, he with 
whom it is yea, I am a captain or chief slaughter-man;* but 
it was, nay, time was, I was none at all, — renounceth that 
victory and slaughter made by the captain and high priest 
of our profession, who, as he is a Lamb slain from the be- 
ginning, his victory and slaughter must be of the same an- 
tiquity, professing himself to be a chief slaughter-man or 
superfluous giant, made in the hosts of the Philistines, 
standing in readiness to come out to defy the hosts of the 
living God; yea, it is evident, whatsoever is more than yea, 
yea, and nay, nay, not setting each upon his base, whereon 
it standeth forever without control, but can remove, create, 
or make void offices and officers at their pleasure, is of that 
evil one, not of Jesus the salvation of his people, but of 
Shedim,t that waster and destroyer of mankind forever. J 
Know, therefore, that it is the oath of God, which confirms 
and makes good his covenant and promise to a thousand 
generations; and it is the oath of man, that is the bond and 
obligation of that league and agreement made with hell 
and death forever. Be ye assured, it is not the tabernacle 



* As the word signifies. 

t As the word signifies, given iu the Chaldean tongue, for Devil. 

i Understand these things according to the true intent, that is, any offi- 
cer that lays claim to the things of the kingdom of God, by virtueof that his 
office, iu that sense the truth of these things stand firm and good, and doth 
not deny or disallow any human ordinance of man in this world, so, it be 
kept in its bounds and proper place; for he that is a captain of the temple, 
that is, exerciseth force of arms for the help of the house of God, will ever, 
with the priests and soldiers, lay hands on Peter and John, to put them in the 
hold, at the least, if they preach Christ. But, Cornelius is no captain of 
that kind or kindred; for ho is a Gentile of Ccrsarea, and of the band called 
the Italian Band. 



79 

witness, which you, have amongst you brought in by 
Jesus, into the possession of the Gentiles; but it is Sic- 
cuth, your King, or the tabernacle of Moloch, the star of 
your god Remphan, — figures that you have made to your- 
selves, which you have taken up, and are bearing so stoutly 
upon your shoulders. Now, to tell you what an oath, ac- 
cording to God, is, that the Scriptures arc delivered upon 
no otiier ground or terms of certainty, wherever they are 
divulged, is a thing out of your jurisdiction, you cannot dis- 
cern or judge of it; therefore, according to your word 
above, we leave it as a parable to you, as all the holy word 
of our God is, as your conversation in all points, as in this, 
daily declareth. In a word, when we have to do in your 
jurisdiction, we know what it is to submit to the wise dis- 
pensations of our God. When you have to do amongst us, 
in the liberties he hath given us, we doubt not, but you shall 
find him judge amongst us, beyond and above any cause or 
thing you can propose unto us; and let that suffice you, 
and know, that you cannot maintain a jurisdiction, but you 
must reject all inroads into other mens' privileges; and so do 
we. In the mean time, we shall, as we think good, be cal- 
ling over again some matters you have had up and had the 
handling of amongst you, to see what justice or equity we 
find hath been exercised in them, and redress them accord- 
ingly; for we profess right unto all men, and do no violence 
at all, as your prescripts threaten to do to us; for we have 
learned how to discipline our children or servants without 
offering violence unto them; even so, do we know how to 
deal with our deboist, rude, yea, inhuman neighbors, (or, if 
you will, Nabals) without doing violence, but rather ren- 
dering unto them that which is their due. Nor shall we de- 
prive a witness of his modest testimony, for the outcries and 
clamors of such an one, as ill-bred, apostatized' Arnold, 

' Why these epithets were applied to either of the Arnolds. William or 



80 

that felonious hog-killer being the party to be testified 
against, or for the oath of any interested iu the cause*; nor 
shall we be forward to come so far to find you workj upon 
your request, till we know you to bear another mind, than 
others of your neighbors do, with whom we have had to do 
in this country ; whose pretended and devised laws we have 
stooped under to the robbing and spoiling of our goods, the 
livelihood of our wives and children; thinking they had la- 
bored, though groping in gross darkness, to bring forth the 
truth in the right and equity of things. But finding them 
to be a company of gross and dissembling hypocrites, that, 
under the pretence of law and religion, have done nothing 
else, but gone about to establish themselves in ways to 
maintain their own vicious lusts, we renounce their diaboli- 
cal practice, being such as have denied in their public 
courts that the laws of our native country should be named 
amongst them; yea, those ancient statute laws, casting us 
into most base, nasty and insufi^rable places of imprison- 
ment, for speaking according to the language of them; in 
the meanwhile, breaking open our houses in a violent way 
of hostility, abusing our wives and our little ones, to 
take from us the volumes wherein they are preserved; 



Benedict, I have not been able to ascertain. From what immediately fol- 
lows, I presume, one of them was a witness in that famous hog case which 
engaged the attention of the magistrates and ministers of Massachusetts in 
1636. The particulars of the case may be found in Sav. Wint. vol. 2, p. 
69, 8tc. &c.— S. 

*As they in the Massachusetts had lately done, to condemn the innocent, 
and justify such who otherwise had been proved guilty of felonious acts; 
even these their new made subjects, whose shame they would not permit to 
appear; but rather deprive sufficient witness of their testimony, at the guil- 
ty person's request. 

t That is, to their Courts in the Massachusetts, to employ them about any 
matters of ours, living peaceably together, and far remote from them, out 
of all their jurisdictions. 



81 

thinking tlierehy to keep us ignorant of the courses they 
are resolved to run, thut so the vitiosity of their own wills 
might be a law unto thein; yea, they have endeavored, and 
that in public expressions, that a man being accused by 
them, should not have liberty to answer for himself, in open 
court. Dealings of like nature we find in the place whereof 
you style us your neighbors, on whose unbridled malice, we 
find a higher than you, putting a curb; and yet in your ac- 
count and reckoning, we are the parties that are still doing 
the wrong, and must bear the guilt in your most mature 
sentence, in whomsoever the spot ariseth and ahideth. But 
the God of vengeance, unto whom our cause is referred, 
never having our protector and judge to seek, will shew 
himself in our deliverance out of the hands of you all; yea, 
all the house of that Ishbosheth* and Meribbosheth,"f nor will 
he fail us to utter and make known his strength wherein we 
stand, to serve in our age and to minister in our course, to- 
day, and to-morrovv; and on the third day, can none de- 
prive us of perfection; for he hath taught us to know what 
it is to walk to-day, and to-morrovv, and the day following; 
also, when a perishing estate cannot arise out of Jerusalem, 
though she be the only one, yea, none but she, that kills the 
prophets, and stones them that are sent unto her. Behold 
ye that are looking after and foretelling so much of the 
coming of Christ, driving the day before you still for certain 
years, which some, you say, shall attain unto, and unto the 
day of death for the rest; ye blind guides, as your fathers 
have ever done, so do ye. Behold, we say, when he ap- 
peareth, your house which you so glory in, shall be left un- 
to you desolate; it shall be turned into nothing but desola- 
tion and confusion, for B-ibel is its name; J nor shall you 

*That is; man ofsbanio. 
t Mouth of shame. 

$ That H, as tl>e word signifies, ronfusion. 
D* 



82 

see him to your comfort, in the glory of his kingdom until 
you can say, — Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
Lord; Avhen the authority and power of man appeareth to be 
the building of Babel unto you and the name and authority 
of God only, to be that wherein the blessing consists, and 
that in such wise also, as is nothing but a way of re[)roach 
in the eyes of all the world; that a king should ride into his 
chief city, so strangely furnished, upon an ass, borrowed, 
her furniture, old, overworn garments, and accompanied 
with none, but poor, mean, excommunicate persons, such 
as your Elders, Scribes, Pharisees, Lawyers and all your 
credible persons among you make full account that they are 
not only accursed by, but also destitute and void of, all law; 
when you can find Hosanna in the highest, arising out of 
such contempt and shame; then and then only shall you 
sing unto him with comfort. In the mean time, acknowl- 
edge your portion, which is to trust and stay yourselves on 
the name of man, and in his beauty to delight and glory, 
which shall fade as a leaf, and like the grass shall wither, 
when it is fitting itself for the oven. Such is man, whose 
breath is in his nostrils, and the son of sorry man, in whom 
you have delight to trust. His power and policy brings 
forth nothing else, but as you shall see and hear in the 
country from whence we are brought. We are not igno- 
rant of those shameful lies, and falsities gone out against 
us, and the daily wresting of your word?;, to cast contempt 
upon us, thinking to bow down our backs under ignominy 
and reproach; neither, of the straits and difliculties, they 
have cast upon us in the things that concern this present 
life, to the taking away of the lives of many, if our God had 
not been seen beyond and above what their thoughts could 
reach unto, (as their own confession had witnessed) doing 
it in such a way, of painted hypocrisy and false gloss, unto 
the eye of the world, that we might seem unto it, self-exe- 
cutioners. We resolve, therefore, to follow our emplay- 



83 

meats, and to carry and behave ourselves as formerly wc 
have done, and no otherwise; for we have wrontrcd no man 
unless with hard labor, to provide for our families, and suf- 
fering of gross, idle and idol drones, to take our labors out 
of the mouths, and from off the backs of our little ones to 
lordane it over us; so that if any shall go about to disturb 
or annoy us henceforth in our employments and liberties 
which God hath or shall put into our hands, that can claim 
no interest in us but by these courses;* what their business 
is, we know by proof sufficient, to be nothing else but that 
ancient errand of Nimrod, that rebellious hunter after the 
precious life; which errand of his shall be no more deliver- 
ed unto us in that covert cruelty and dissembling way of hy- 
pocrisy, but in direct and open terms of tyranny. We will 
not be dealt with as before; we speak in the name of our 
God, we will not; for, if any shall disturb us as above, secret 
hypocrites shall become open tyrants, and their laws appear 
to be nothing else but mere lusts, in the eyes of all the 
world. And wherefore do you murmur among yourselves 
at this saying, thinking it is not a Christian expression? It 
is because you are ignorant of the cross of our Lord Jesus, 
not knowing what it is; therefore it is, while you inveio-h 
against such as set up a statue of wood and stone, to bow 
down unto it, and are so vain as to cross the air, to use 
your own expression, upon the faces of infants when they 
sprinkle them with water to as great purpose, and in the 
mean time you preach and set up Seighnirim, for your cross, 
whom you fall down unto so willingly; and lest you let the 
word pass without expression of it unto all; it signifies hor- 
ror and fear, which is the cross you hold and teach, and by 
and through which you think to be saved, which name is 



* Knowing ourselves to be free subjects to the laws and Government of 
our native country, and not unto any government extended out of its bounds 
and jurisdiction. 



81 



given by our Loid to ihe Devil hiiiisolf, as our English 
translate it, and the Lord never gives a name as an empty 
title, but acco'-ding to the nature of the thing named, so 
that if he speak, 1 have said ye are gods, of any besides 
himself, it is to declare, that they have not only the name 
but the very nature of the god of this world; and therefore 
he saith, they shall die even as Adam, who aspired and 
usurped the place of God, and fall also as one of the princes, 
even as one of those princes of JMidian, whose carcases be- 
came dung for the earth ; and he that gives that title unto any 
but the true God, that made heaven and earth, in any other 
sense, but as it declareth a flat opposition against God, is 
reacting that ancient spirit of the serpent, If you eat you 
shall be as gods,* to judge of good and evil, for which all 
men are set up in that kind; even so while you tell the 
people, that by sorrow, compunction and anxiety of spirit, 
and trouble of mind they communicate in the sufferings of 
Christ, out of which condition their comfort is to flow; it is 
nothing else but to conclude, the Son of God to be Belial; 
yea, to aflirm him to be Seighnirim himself. This doth he 
receive at your hands in your ministers, for all your fawn- 
ing upon him with a kiss; so that if you will know how far 
you are from communicating in the death cf Christ, take it 
in this parable, verily as far as the weakness of God is 
stronger than man. Countrymen, for mc cannot but call 
you so, though we find your carriage to be so far worse 
than these Indians, we advise you to take things together, 
and what God hath joined, let none dare to put asunder; so 
that if you be ashamed of the cross in baptism, be ashamed 
of the baptism also; for such as the cross is, such is the 

* For he that assiimeth a title unto himself, without respect unto Christ, 
in whom the whole g'ory thereof consists, such mind and disposition prose- 
cuted and followed to its height according to the rise thereof, sets itself in di- 
rect terms of opposition against Christ, and halh that spirit of the god of 
this world. 



85 

baptism. Therefore, your ancestors go beyond you, in tliut 
they join crossing of tlie air, and sprinkling with the ele- 
ment of water, together. But, wherever baptism, according 
to the word of Christ, is, there is the cross of Christ also; 
they can no more be separated than his sceptre and kinf- 
dom can, for where the one is, there is the other also; for 
as they are coincident, so are they co-apparent. So that if 
ever you sec the baptism of Christ, truly in use and exer- 
cised upon any, you do as truly see that party partaking 
and communicating with the cross and sufferings of the 
Lord Jesus Christ; and to see persons in such estate, and 
conclude afterward they are worthy of censure, yea, possi- 
bly to Anathema Maranatha, is nothing else, but to conclude 
a total and final falling away from the grace of God, as your 
fathers have done before you; for no grace greater than 
the cross of our Lord Jesus. Behold, therefore, you des- 
pisers, the vanity and abomination of all your baptisms; 
how prejudicial they are to the cross of Christ. Be asham- 
ed, and return in time, or he shall be a swift witness against 
you forever, when your repentance shall come too late. 
But you think the cross of Christ is not but in bowing the 
back under every burden, and cringing and crouching to 
the lust of every man, otherwise his Shebet* is not fit, nor 
suiteth it with your regimen at all, unless so servile, that ev- 
ery one may serve their lusts of him, to wealth and honor, 
friends and allies, by setting bounds and limits to the holy 
word of God, some in the way of one devise, some in the 
way of another, and he that will not walk as a dumb beast, 
worse than Balaam's Ass, and say nothing, or else give a 
sense of the holy writings to maintain that devised platform, 
if mercy must be used not to hang and burn, yet banishment 
is ready waiting for them. Therefore shall you know by 
the rod of his power that comes out of Sion, that he will be 
ruler, even in the midst of his enemies. 

* That is, his sceptic, rod, staffer tribe. 



86 

By us, whom you style your neighbors of Providence; 
you have said it, Providence is our hold; the neigh- 
borhood of the Samaritan we profess, and for the 
lookings on, and turnings aside of your Priests and 
Levites, without either unction or compassion, all 
your slain and wounded in soul, finding no remedy, 
do plainly testify the nature of your travels and 
neighborhood, what it is. Your speech to us in gen- 
eral, not using our names, when as we know it is 
particulars you aim at, gives us plainly to see the 
word Aelem,* revived and living in you, as it stands 
with its coherence, in Psalm Iviii. verse 1 , &.c. 
JOHN WICKES, 
RANDALL HOULDEN, 
JOHN WARNER, 
ROBERT POTTER, 
RICHARD WATERMAN, 
WILLIAM WADDLE, 
SAMUEL GORTON, 
RICHARD CARDER, 
JOHN GREENE, 
NICHOLAS POWER, 
FRANCIS WESTON, 
SAMPSON SHOTTON.f 

* The word Aelem signifies dumbness, so that the phrase is, do ye indeed 
do dumb justice, O Congregation, and so describe such persons, what they 
are that speak not a word of righteousness, in their acts and executions; 
which Psalm showed into us the spirit, practice, and success of our adver- 
saries. 

t These being the purchasers of Shawomet, the Sachem Myantonomi, 
as he sold it to twelve men, so his price was that every man should pay 
twelve fathom of Wampumpeage, that is, one hundred and forty-four fath- 
oms, as our deed which he made unto us, being extant, witncsseth to be 
paid unto him. 

' John WJckcs or Weeks, as it is sometimes written, was in Plymouth a? 



87 

This writing, sent to the Mass.ichuscttP, we have rehatod 
verbatim, only what is in the margin is added for cxplana- 

early as 1637. He and his wife became proselytes of Gorton while there, 
and probably left that place and went to llliode-Island with him. lie was 
received as an inhabitant of Khode-Isiand on the 20th June, 1639. When, 
he left the island is uncertain. After the settlement of Shawomet, he was 
one of the leading men in the plantation, and held the oflices of Town Dep- 
uty, Assistant, &.c. He was slain by the Indians in 1675, being, as Callen- 
dor says, " a very ancient man.'' The Town Council of Warwick made 
a will for hitii, as was the custom in those days, when the deceased left no- 
will. He had a son John. IMany of his descendants are now living in 
Warwick. 

Randall Ilolden came originally from Salisbury in England. When he 
first arrived in this country, is not certain. lie probably left IMassachusetts 
with the first settlers of Rhode-Island, and perhaps before. He and Roger 
W^illiams were the witnesses to Conanicus and Miantonomi's deed to the 
purchasers of the island, on 24th ]\Iarch, 1638. He also signed the first 
aTeenient or covenant entered into between them for their government on the 
7tli of April in the same year. March 16, 1642, he was disfranchised. The 
complaint against him is not recorded. The whole record of tlse transac- 
tion is this: — " It is ordered, that Richard Carder, Randall Holden, Samp- 
son Shotton and Robert Potter, be disfranchised of the privileges and pre- 
rogatives belonging to the body of this State, and that their names be can- 
celled out of the record." 

On the following day, this further order was passed by the colony of 
Rhode-Island. 

" It is ordered, that if John A\'ickcs, Randall ITolden, Richard Carder, 
Sampson Shotton, or Robert Potter, shall come upon this island, armed, 
they shall be by the constable, calling to himself sufficient aid, disarmed and 
carried before the magistrate, and there find sureties for their good behavior; 
and further be it established, that if that course shall not regulate them or 
any of them, then a further due and lawful course by the magistrates shall 
be taken in their Sessions; provided that this order, hinder not the course 
of law already begun with John Wickes." 

Holden was elected Marshal of the colony, at their first election. His 
children were Randall, who married Betty Waterman; Cliarles, who mar- 
ried Catharine, Greene; Mary, who married John, son of Richard Carder; 
Elizabeth, who married John Rice; Sarah, who man led Joseph Stafford; 



83 

ation, and more ease to the reader to understand our mean- 
in<f, which we sent at the time when their General Court 

]\Iargarct, who married John Eldridge; Susanna, who married Benjamin 
Greene; Barbara, who married Samuel Wickliam, and Frances, who 
married John Holmes. 

Robert Potter was admitted a freeman in Massachusetts, Sept. 3, 1631. 
He removed to Rhode-Island, and was received as an inhabitant there July 16, 
1639. The time of his leaving that colony, may be inferred from the pre- 
ceding part of this note. He was licensed in Feb. 1649, to keep an ordina- 
ry in Warwick. He died the latter part of 1661, leaving a son John, and 
a daughter Deliverance, who married James, sen of John Greene. On the 
5th of November, 1661, the Town Council of Warwick met " to agitate" 
about his estate, he having died intestate. They directed one of his creditors 
to sell " his land and housing," and " having satisfied himself out of it, if 
aught remains, deliver it to John Potter, as a legacy from the Council." 
In these daj-s, we should think it rather the right of John Potter, as heir of 
his father. John however soon paid the debt, and the creditor transferred 
the " land and housing" to him. 

Richard Waterman was in Salem as early as 1636. Tlie tradition is that 
he came to this country in the same vessel with Roger Williams. He removed 
from Salem after Williams's banishment, and settled with him at Providence. 
His name is the twelfth in Williams's first deed. He did not remove to 
Shawomet, but resided at Providence and Newport till his death, which was 
on the 28th of October, 1673. He left a number of children whose descend- 
ants are very numerous. A son of his married a Carder of Warwick, prob- 
ably a daughter of Richard Carder, and another son. Resolved, and not 
Richard, as stated in Note on page 43, married Mercy, a daughter ofRoger 
W^iliiams. On the 12th March, 1638, he was licensed by the General 
Court of Massachusetts, to remove out of that jurisdiction, provided he re- 
moved his family before the next General Court. Francis Weston, Stuke- 
ly Westcott, Richard Carder, Thomas Olncy and others, were also includ- 
ed in the same sentence. 

William Waddle was otie of those who were disarmed at Boston in 1637, 
see Note on page 45. I can find no traces of this individual, either in tra- 
dition or in the records. A William Wodel lived on Rhode-Island, as late 
as Feb. 12, 1689. He had a son William, who was of age in 1684. 

Richard Carder was admitted a freeman in Massachusetts, Maj- 25, 163G. 
He was disarmed in Eoston, 1G37. From Boston he removed to Rhode- 



80 

sat, desiring- that all thn rountry might take notice of it, 
tloubting they were not well informed how the magistrates 

Tsland with the first planters, and was one of the signers of their original 
covenant, in 1638. Being disfranchised, he left Rhode-Island and removed 
to Shawomet. He died at Newport, in the time of the Indian war, sup- 
posed in 1675 or 6. He had a son, John, who married Mary, daughter of 
Ilandall Holden. His descendants are numerous in Warwick. 

John (ireene came from fcfalisbury in England, and settled first in Mas- 
sachusetts, lie was a surgeon in England, and brought with him to this 
country, his wife, five sons and one daughter. He went to Trovidence, soon 
after its settlement, and his name is the fifth in Williams's first deed. In 
16.37, he was again in Massachusetts. At a Court holden on the .5th of 
August, 1637, he was bound over to the next Quarter Court, for having 
spoken contemptuously against the magistrates. At the Quarter Court, he 
was fined £20, and " forbid to come into that jurisdiction, on pain of fine 
and imprisonment." On his submission, his fine was remitted. After his 
return to Providence, he retracted his submission by letter, and charged the 
magistrates with usurping the power of Christ in his Church, and with per- 
secution toward Williams. " On receipt of this letter," says Winthrop, 
" because the Court knew that divers others of Providence were of the 
same ill afl'ection to the Court, and were probably suspected to be confede- 
rate in the same letter, the Court ordered; that " if any of that plantation 
were found in our jurisdiction, he should be brought before one of the mag- 
istrates; and if he would not disclaim the charges in the said letter, he should 
be sent home, and charged to come no more into this jurisdiction upon pain 
of imprisonment and further censure." He married Mrs. Alse Daniels, 
after he removed to Providence, for his second wife. His children were, 
Peter, who married a daughter of Samuel Gorton; John, who married an 
Almy of Rhode-Island; James, who married Deliverance, daughter of Rob- 
ert Potter; Thomas, who married a Barton; Henry, and a daughter Mary, 
who married a Sweet. On the 25th September, 1644, he sold his interest 
in the Providence purchase to his son John. At that time he was residing 
at Occupassuatuxet, in Warwick. The General Court of Massachusetts, in 
October, 1658, granted him leave to visit his friends there, for one month, 
" sometime in the next summer, he behaving himself peaceably and inoffen- 
sively." This was done at the request of their Secretary, Edward Raw- 
son. The year preceding, John Greene, Jun. addressed a letter to Raw- 
son, in wliieh he called him cousin, and the letter was filed by Rawson, 
E 



90 

and ministers had carried themselves towards us, nor upon 
what ground they had or did proceed against us. But the 
chief of them taking the matter into consideration, thought 
good to call an assembly of magistrates and ministers, to 
consult, in way of a Synod, » what course to take, uniting 

" Cousin Greene's letter. John Greene was prevented by death from avail- 
ing himself of this liberty. He died in the winter of 1658, leaving a will, 
dated Dec. 28, 1658, which was proved the 7th of January following. His 
descendants are very numerous. It was the second John Greene who was 
Deputy Governor in 1700, and not the first as stated by Mr Savage, Sav. 
Winf.vol. J, p. 256. 

Nicholas Power never lived at Shawomet. He was one of the early set- 
tlers of Providence, where he was admitted a purchaser. It is believed, 
that he came with Williams; but he was not named as a purchaser in Wil- 
liams's first deed. He died at Providence, August 25, 1C57, intestate, 
leaving a widow, Jane, a son Nicholas, and a daughter, Hope. In 1C67 
the Town Council of Providence made a will for him. As such proceedings 
are believed to have been peculiar to the State of Rhode-Island, I have in- 
serted the preamble and conclusion of the will, in Appendix, No. 14, for the 
gratification of the curious. His son Nicholas married Rebecca, daughter 
of Zachary Rhodes. The tradition is, that he was killed in the Indian war 
of 1G75. 

Francis Weston was admitted a freeman of iMassachusetts in November, 

1633. He was one of the deputies from Salem to the General Court in 

1634. His name is the tenth in Williams's first deed to the purchasers of 
Providence. He died before June 4, 1645, as will appear in the course of 
this narrative. 

Sampson Shotton. The time of his arrival, and place of his landing in 
this country, I have not been able to ascertain. He was received an in- 
habitant at Rhode-Island, July 16, 1639, and disfranchised in 1642, as be- 
fore stated. — S. 

1 It was usual for the maglstiates and General Court of Massachusetts, to 
consult with the elders or ministers, on every important occasion, whether 
relating to Church or State. On receipt of the foregoing letter, the elders 
of Boston and the neighboring towns were undoubtedly consulted; though 
not called together "in way of a Synod," as Gorton states. In June, fol- 
lowing, a Synod was held in Massachusetts. 

No common meed of praise Is due to any body of men, who could so 



91 

tliemsclvcs together, that whut was done by any of them, 
might be the act of them all; and they, perusing of our 
writings, framed out of them twenty-six particulars, or 
tliercabouts, which they said were blasphemous, changing 
of phrases, altering of words and sense; not, in any one of 
them taking the true intent of our writings; biit if they 
spake our own words, it was to such purpose as this; as 
though a man would write the words of the Psalm, and af- 
firm (there is no God) which words he may find written 
therein; but if he leave out this. That the fool hath said in 
his heart, so, he spoils the sense; and in such a manner did 
they deal with our writings, and those things they were free 
to divulge and make known amongst the people. These 
things they concluded to be heresies and blasphemies, be- 
fore ever they heard a word of what interpretation we could 
give of our meaning therein. The ministers did zealously 
preach unto the people the great danger of such things, and 
the guilt such lay under that held them; stirring the peo- 
ple up, to labor to find such persons out, and to execute 
death upon them, making persons so execrable in the eyes 
of the people, whom they intimated should hold such things, 
yea, some of them naming some of us in their pulpits,* that 



well coniprehenJ the foregoing letter, as to be able to select " twenty-six 
particulars" from it, which they could pronounce blasphemous. — S. 

* As Mr Cobbett, ' who cried out against Gorton, that arch heretic, who, 
saith he, would have all men to be preachers. But if he had turned his 
speech against Moses, who wished that all the Lords's people were prophets, 
he had far more plainly expressed the bent of his spirit, and what manner of 
zeal he had. 

* Probably Thomas Cobbett. He was born in England, ICOS, arrived in 
New-England, 1U37; was at Lynn, about twenty years, and then was set- 
tled at Ipswich, where he was the fourth minister, lie died in 16S5. He 
was the author of a pamphlet entitled, " The Civil Magistrate's power in 
matters of Religion modestly debated, &c. with a Brief Answer to a slan- 
•ierous pamphlet called, 111 News from New-England." Both these pani- 



93 

tlie people lluit had nut seen us, thought us to be worse by 
far in any respect, than those barbarous Indians are in tlie 
country, which some of the ministers have rendered unto 
the people as Hittitcs, Canaanites and Peresites, urging it 
as a duty unto the English to put them to death; whereupon 
we heard a rumor that the Massachusetts was sending out 
an army of men to cut us off, but when they perceived we 
were removed further into the country, and had left our 
lands, houses and labors, where their pretended subjects, 
by means of whom they sought for some temporal occasions 
against us, lived, they thought it not safe to come out 
against us, having show of nothing against us, but only out 
religion; therefore, seeing themselves disappointed in that 
design, wherein their coadjutors had wrought to bring them 
in to make an inroad upon us, they then wrought by these 
their agents, who traded for them with the Indians, to in- 
sinuate themselves into two or three Indians amongst us, 
to become subjects to the government of Massachusetts, 
hereby withdrawing them from their lawful and natural 
Prince, INIiantonomi; and the name of these his subjects, 
who now became subjects to the Massachusetts, were Pom- 
ham and Saccononoco; * and when this was accomplished, 

phlets are exceedingly rare. The latter one was written by Dr. John Ciarli, 
one of the founders of the colony on Rhode-Island. — S. 

iThe Government of Massachusetts took no immediate steps against 
Gorton and his associates, on receiving the letter just given in the text. In 
the January following, (1643) Mianlonomi executed to them the deed of 
Shawomet. This deed and their removal to the lands described and con- 
veyed by it, being several miles south of Pawtuxet river, and of the lands 
occupied by the Arnolds, and by them subjected to Blassachusetts, ought to 
have protected Gorton and his associates from further molestation. They 
had ceased to inliude on the lands of the proteges of Massachusetts, and had 
sought a refuge among the natives, beyond where any English settlement 
had been made. But the real objects of the Massachusetts Government had 
not been attained— the heretics lived, and the outlet into the i\aira'';uiselL 



93 

then tliey again sci't luitU their wanunts unto us, as fuiiiicr- 
ly, to command our appearance at their courts in the MaS- 

13ay was uot secured. The situation of afi'aiis, liowever, required some 
new pretext for their interference. The readiest that suggested itself, was 
the submission of tlie Indians in the vicinity, to their jurisdiction. The 
means to obtain such a submission were within their power. The Arnolds 
were well qualified to aid them in this behalf, as they understood the lan- 
guage of the natives, and Benedict is charged by Gorton with " constantly 
trading with.them on the Sabbatli-day." It is natural to suppose they would 
be anxious to conciliate their new masters, and not less ready to do it, at 
the expense of their own enemies. Accordingly, early in the year 1643, 
Pomham and Saccononoco, styled by VVinthrop " two Sachems, near 
Providence, having under them two or three hundred men," visit Boston in 
company with Benedict Arnold, and complain that Miantonomi, chief Sa- 
chem of the Narragansetts, at the instigation of (joiton, had compelled one 
of them, to sign the deed to Gorton, given in Appendix, No. 13. At the 
same time they desired to be taken under the protection of Massachusetts. 
This request was referred to the next General Court, and a letter was sent 
to Miantonomi and Gorton, informing them of these complaints and request. 
At that Court, Miantonomi appeared, and 'beii.g demanded in open court," 
" whether he had any interest in the said two Sacliems, as his subjects, he 
could prove none." Cutshamekin, a Sachem, who resided near Dorches- 
ter Mill, " atfirmed he had none, and that they were as free Sachems as 
himself" " Benedict Arnold affirmed, partly upon his own knowledge, 
and partly upon the relation of divers Indians of those parts, that the In- 
dians belonging to these Sachems, did usually pay their deer skins, which 
are a tribute to the chief Sachem, always to them and never to IMiantonomi, 
or any other Sachem of Narragansett; which Miantonomi could not contra- 
dict." Upon this, the matter was referred to the Governor, and some of 
the magistrates and deputies, to send for the two Sachems, to treat wiih 
them on the subject. At this Court, two of the deputies were sent to speak 
with Gorton and his associates, about the letter, and see " whether they 
would own that writing which was subscribed by them all." This was at 
best but a shallow pretext; their names were to the letter. On the 22d of 
June following, these Indians went to Boston and signed the submission, 
given in Appendix No. 15, which was interpreted to them by Benedict Ar- 
nold. I have been thus particular in this transaction, as it is the pretended 
foundation of the next proceedings against Gorton. 

U'hether Pomham and S.iccononoto were iiidependcnl Sachems, or 



94 

aachiisettd, and that without any consideration or delay at 
the first time of their sending unto us, after our removal; 

not, cannot now be determined beyond a doubt, though I confess I am sat- 
isfied they were not. The statements of Roger Williams and William 
Coddington, establish the extent of the Narragansett dominions. Codding- 
ton and his company purchased Rhode-Island of the chief Sachems of that 
tribe, and Williams purchased Providence of them. Williams states fur- 
ther; that " Conanicus' father and ancestors, living in these Southern 
parts," that is, in what is now Washington County, R. I. translated and 
brought their authority into these Northern parts, all along by the sea 
side." Is it probable that the Narragansetts, a powerful nation, would 
have permitted two Sachems with only two or three hundred men, to re- 
main, independent, in the very heart of their territories ? The Narragan- 
setts, escaped the pestilence which, just before 1620, had almost annihilated 
the tribes in New-England. At the time of the settlement of this country, 
by Europeans, they were extending their dominions far and wide. The Sa- 
chems around Massachusetts Bay were tributary to them. In 1632, when 
the Narragansetts went to fight with the Pequods, they sent for these Sa- 
chems, and they, with all their men, obeyed the summons. It also appears 
from Davis's Morton, page 67, Note, — that the Sachems of Shawmut and 
Neponset, "acknowledged a degree of subjection to Massasoit," Sachem 
of the Wampanoags. These " acknowledged a degree of subjection" to 
the NarraganseUs. Williams states in a " testimony" dated 13th of 10th 
mo. (December) 1661, that the Narragansett Sachems, "declared to him 
that Ousamequin was their subject," and had " subjected himself and his 
lands unto them at the Narragansett; only now he seemed to revolt from his 
loyalties, under the shelter of the English at Plymouth." " This," says 
Williams, '• I declared from the Narragansett Sachems to Ousamequin, 
who, without any stick, acknowledged it to be true, that he had so subjected 
as the Narragansett Sachems affirmed." Ousamequin and Bldssasoit were 
different names of the same Sachem. 

Cutshamekin, therefore, in his testimony before the General Court, told 
the truth, but not the whole of it, when he testified that Pomham and Sac- 
cononoco were " as free Sachems as himself," he being a petty Sachem 
under Massasoit, one of the tributaries of the Narragansetts. 

The title uniformly applied to Canouicus, Chief Sachem of the Narra- 
gansetts, was peculiar to him; and may it not imply that extended domin- 
ion over tributary Sachems, which it seems he possessed in a pre-eminent 
degree ? 



95 

the court being then sitting at Boston, in the Massachu- 
setts. 

Here followeth a true copy of the first warrant sent unto 
us, by the General Court assembled at Boston, in the Mass- 
achusetts, after our removal unto and planting upon our land 
at Shawomet, verbatim; the warrant under their hands be- 
ing still extant. 

To OUR Neighbors, Master Samuel Gorton, John 
WicKEs, Randall Houlden, Robert Potter, Francis 
Weston, Richard Carder, John Warner, and Wil- 
liam Waddle. ' 

Whereas we have received upon good ground, into our 
jurisdiction and protection, two Indian Sachems, whose 
names are Pumham and Saccononoco, who have lately com- 
plained to us of some injurious and unjust dealing toward 
them by yourselves, and because we desire to do equal 
right and justice to all, and that all parties might be heard, 
we have, therefore, thought good to write unto you, to give 
you notice hereof, that so you might make present answer 
in the General Court now assembled at Boston, to their 

Arnold had a deep interest in establishing the independency of Pomhani 
and Saccononoco. In the April preceding their submission, he purchased 
of the latter a tract of land near Pavvtuxet, as appears by a deed to him wit- 
nessed by Increase Nowell. This deed was not recorded, and perhaps not 
published in Providence, until October, 1648. 

Under these circumstances, I am inclined to believe the assertion of Gor- 
ton, who had every means of ascertaining the truth, that the Chief Sachem 
of the Narragansetts, was "their lawful and natural Prince." — S. 

' Why this warrant, as Gorton styles it, was not directed to John Greene, 
Richard Waterman, Sampson Shotton and Nicholas Power, as well as to 
the others of Gorton's company, I am unable to ascertain. They were 
grantees in Miantonomi's deed, and are named in the next warrant from 
Massachusetts, which reiterates the same complaints, with this. I pre- 
sume that their names were in the original, and omitted in the copy by 
mistake. — S. 



96 

complaints, who are now here with us, to attend jour com- 
ino-. And because some of you have been denied the lib- 
erty ot" coming amongst us, and it may be, that others are 
not willing in other respects personally to appear,* and we 
do therefore hereby give and grant safe conduct for your 
free egress and regress unto us, whereby there may be no 
just excuse for withholding you to give satisfaction in this 
particular. Per. Cur. General, 

INCR. NOWELL, Secret. 

Dated the 12th of 7th mo. 1643. 

This warrant being delivered unto us, by some of their 
forenamed agents, the English, we presently returned them 
this answer by word of mouth, by their messenger, telling 
them, that we being so far out of their jurisdictions, could 
not, neither would we acknowledge subjection unto any in 
the place where we were, but only the State and Govern- 
ment of Old England, who only had right unto us, and from 
whom we doubted not, but in due season we should receive 
direction for the well ordering of us in all civil respects; 
and in the mean time we lived peaceably together, desiring 
and endeavoring to do wrong to no man, neither English 
nor Indian, ending all our differences in a neighborly and 
loving way of arbitrators, mutually chosen amongst us.* 
They receiving our answer, took it disdainfully, as their in- 
tent was to take any we sent, without our personal appear- 
ance; being resolved what course to run concerning us. 
Whereupon they sent us another writing, immediately from 
the Court, to inform us that they were resolved to come 
down amongst us, to exercise justice there. 

* They ha\ ing banished some of us, five or six years before, and rhreateii- 
ing, that if some of us were amongst them, we should hardly see the place 
of our abode any more. 

1 This was the method of ending diiTerences reported by a committee, and 
adopted in the colony at Providence, as stated in a formernote. — ?. 



97 

Here followclh n true copy of the willing whioh ihey 
sent unto us, verbatim, being still extant: 
To Samuel Gorton, John Wicices, John Warner, John 
Greene, Randall Houlden, Francis Weston, Robert 
Potter, Richard Waterman, Richard Carder, Samp- 
son Shotton, Nicholas Power and William Waddle. 
Whereas, upon occasion of divers injuries, offered by you 
to us, and the people under our jurisdiction, both English 
and Indians, we have sent to you to come to our court, and 
there make answer to the particulars charged upon you, 
and safe conduct to that end; to which you have returned 
us no other but contemptuous and disdainful answers; and 
now, at the last, that if we would send to yourselves, that the 
course might be examined, and heard amongst your own 
neighbors, we should then have justice and satisfaction; 
we have, therefore, that our moderation and justice may ap- 
pear to all men, agreed to condescend herein to your own 
desire, and therefore intend shortly to send Commissioners 
into your parts, to lay open the charges against you, and to 
hear your reasons and allegations, and thereupon to receive 
such satisfaction from you as shall appear in justice to be 
due. We give you also to understand, that we shall send a 
sufficient guard with our Commissioners, for their safety 
against any violence or injury; for seeing you will not trust 
vourselves with us, upon our safe conduct, we have no rea- 
son to trust ours with you, upon your bare courtesy. But 
this you may rest assured of; that if you will make good your 
own offer to us of doing us right, our people shall return 
and leave you in peace, otherwise we must right ourselves 
and our people, by force of arms. 

Per Cur. 

INCREASE NOWELL, Secret. 

Dated the 19th of the 7th mo. 1643. 

The next news we had, immediately upon the receipt of 

this writing, (being about our nece.^sary employments in 



98 

provision for our families) was this; tiiat one Capt. George 
Cooke,* with a company of armed soldiers,* accompanied 
with many Indians, having commission from the Massachu- 
setts, either to bring us away by force of arms, or else to 
put us to the sword; which, when we heard, we partly be- 
lieved, in regard they had given order by public court, long 
before, that no gunpowder should be sold into those parts 
where we lived, but only to such as would become subjects 
to them; whereby the place was not only hindered of means 
of defence from a foreign enemy, but also to furnish their 
families with such provisions as the country affords. We, 
hearing of their approach, immediately sent a letter to those 
which we heard they styled Commissioners, which proved 
to be the Captain, together with his officers; desiring to 
know their intent, and what their commission was to do in 
those parts, signifying, that if they came to visit us in way 
of neighborhood and friendship to clear any matter or cause, 
they should be welcome to us; but if otherwise, we wished 
them not to set a foot upon our lands in any hostile way. 
A true copy of our letter, verbatim, sent to the Commissioners, 
as they were upon the way, coming from the Massachi(sett8 
towards Shawomet. 

Shawomet, the 28th of Sept. 1643. 
to certain men, styled commissioners, sent from the 
Massachusetts, now upon the way towards Shaw- 
omet, WHOSE names we KNOW NOT. 

Whereas, you are sent by the Government of the Massa- 
chusetts, under pretence of having things ordered amongst 
us in way of justice and equity, to be distributed unto them- 

' Captain Cooke arrived in Massachusetts at an early period. In 1636, he 
was admitted a freeman. After this he was a deputy from Cambridge, and 
in 1645, was chosen Speaker. He afterwards returned to England, and 
held a Colonel's commission in Cromwell's army. — S. 

2 According to Winthrop, vol. 2d, p. 1S8, there were forty soldiers sent 
on this expedition. — S. 



99 

selves, consisting (as thoy say) of English and Indians,* 
and that upon this ground, that we have given them an in- 
vitation to that purpose; know, therefore, our whole intent 
and meaning therein, which may not bear any other inter- 
pretation in a rational mind; that as they invited us unto 
them, as clients to have our causes tried by them, and not 
as warriors to fight with them, so did we and no otherwise 
invite them. Mistake us not, therefore, neither deceive 
yourselves through their or your own pretences; for, if 
you come to treat with us in ways of equity and peace, (to- 
gether therewith shaking a rod over our heads, in a band of 
soldiers) be you assured, we have passed our childhood and 
nonage in that point; and are under commission of the 
great God, not to be children in understanding, neither in 
courage, but to quit ourselves as men. We sfraitly charge 
you, therefore, hereby, that you set not a foot upon our 
lands in any hostile way, but upon your peril ; and that if any 
blood be shed, upon your own heads shall it be: And know, 
that if you set an army of men upon any part of our land, 
contrary to our just prohibition herein, we are under com- 
mand, and have our commission sealed already, to resist 
you unto death; for this is the law of our God, by whom 
we stand, written in all mens' hearts, that if you spread a 
table before us as friends, we sit not as men invective, en- 
vious, or malcontent, not touching a morsel nor looking for 
you to point us unto our dish; but we eat with you by virtue 
of the unfeigned law of relations, not only to satisfy our 
stomachs, but to increase friendship and love, the end of 
feasting: So also, if you visit us as combatants or warriors, 
by the same law of relations, we as freely and cheerfully an- 
swer you unto death; not to kill and take away the lives 

* That is, their united body which they so much delight and glory in, con- 
sists, by their own, confession of such mixture of members, as that part are 
heathens by their own report. 



100 

of men, but to increase wrath and horror, the end of war, 
in the souls of all men that seek after it, where the peace - 
of our God appears not; and they that work otherwise, and 
answer not unto this law, they are not men of truth, but 
base, dissembling hypocrites, shadows and abominable idols, 
set up in the form of men. 

By us. Owners and Inhabitants of Shawomet.' 

This letter being sent unto these Commissioners so styled 
by them, though as yet unknown unto us, by the hand of one 
John Peise,^ who lived amongst them in the Massachusetts, 
who, having a father-in-law amongst us, was willing to come 
and declare unto his father, out of his tenderness towards 
him, of the nearness of the soldiers' approach, and as near 
as he could the end of their coming, to persuade his said 
father to escape for his life. And when the Captain and 
the rest of the Commissioners had read our letter, they re- 
turned us this answer by the same messenger, namely, that 
they desired to speak with us, to see if they could convert 
us to be of their minds, bringing a minister with them to 
accomplish their ends in such designs, which if they could 
not, then they would account of us as men fitted for the 
slaughter, and with all convenient speed, would address 
themselves for our despatch, in the ruin of us and of our 
families. 

Here followeth a true copy of the answer made by the 
Commissioners unto our letter, verbatim, under their hands, 
which is still extant: 

To OUR FRIEND JoHN PeISE. 

Having considered of the writing you brought to us the 
last nio-ht, our thoughts concerning it are as followeth: It is 



J The terms of this letter are more intelligible, though the matter was 
probably not less oifensive than the preceding one from Gorton. — S. 

»The name of this individual does not occur in the records of Warwick, 
nor have I been able to tind any reference to him in any history of those 
times. — S. 



101 

our great desire that \vc might speak with tlicin concerniii" 

o 

the particulars, which we were sent to them abuut;* cer- 
tainly persuading ourselves, that we shall be able through 
the Lord's help, to convince some of them at least of (he 
evil of their way, and cause them to divert their course 
that so doing they may preserve their lives and liberties 
which otherwise must necessarily lead to eternal ruin ol" 
them and theirs; for however, through an evil spirit that 
hath possessed some one or two of them, others are drawn 
into such desperate evils as is monstrous to think of; yet 
having better counsel, we hope they will be brought to see 
their weakness and repent of it, that so we mio-ht return 
and leave them and theirs in peace; which is our great de- 
sire, and the contrary most grievous; but if there be no 
way of turning them, we then shall look upon them as men 
prepared for slaughter, and, accordingly, shall address our- 
selves with all convenient speed, not doubting of the Lord's 
presence with us being clear in the way we are in. This 
being our minds, we entreat you to acquaint them with it 
speedily, and if they shall, who have set their names to the 



* This letter doth plainly declare the proper intent of the Massachusetts i 
ia sending out this band of soldiers against us; namely, iii the falsify in<T of 
our faith to God, to subject ourselves unto them, who never named the 
least word unto us, as though they came against us in the name of the Kin<» 
and State of Old England, but in the name of the Government of the Massa- 
chusetts, or else to pay the tribute of our lives unto them, in the utter ruin of 
our wives and children, which these men having received in commission, to- 
gether with instruction how to accomplish and effect the same from those 
that sent them, count it their glory to reveal and make manifest the same, 
which the Massachusetts had so long gone about to hide under the color of 
some civil miscarriage in our course of walking towards men, in regard 
themselves had professed, to remove into those parts merely for the liberty 
of conscience, which now they so zealously deny unto their neighbors. 

1 It rather declares what the Commissioners themselves deemed to be the 
true object of their mission. — S. 



102 

bookj coine to us and speak with us, we shall give them 
leave to return without hurt. 

Your friends and Commissioners, sent by the Govern- 
ment of the Massachusetts Bay into these parts. 
GEORGE COOKE, 
EDWARD JOHNSON, ' 
HUMPHREY ATHERTON. 
The return of this answer from the Commissioners, as 
above, affrighted our wives and children, forcing them to 
betake themselves, some into the woods among the Indians, 
suffering such hardship as occasioned the death of divers of 
them,* and others going to take water, to depart to other 
plantations for succour, the soldiers approached before they 
could take boat, who presented their muskets at women 

* As ihe wife of John Greene, as also the wife of Robert Potter, other 
women iniscarrying, to the loss of their children. So also Francis Weston, 
through cold and hardship in prison, fell into a consumption, and in a short 
time after, died of it. 

1 Edward Johnston was the author of the "Wonder-working Providence 
of Sion's Savior, in New-England." He emigrated to this country from 
Herne-Hill, England, in 1630, and was admitted a freeman in Massachu- 
setts, the following year. He lived for some time in Charlestown, and was 
one of the first settlers of Woburn, which last town he represented in the 
General Court, from 1643 to 1671, with the exception of one year, 1648. 
He was Speaker for a short time in 1655. He was Captain and Town 
Clerk about thirty years. His work contains one chapter devoted to Gor- 
ton, which see in Appendix, No. 16. 

Humphrey Atherton was admitted a freeman in Massachusetts, in 1638, 
probably not long after his arrival in this country. In September following, 
he was a deputy from Dorchester, and afterwards for Springfield, though he 
continued to reside at Dorchester. In 1653 he was Speaker, and in the 
following year, an Assistant. He was frequently employed in negotiations 
with the Indians. He made large purchases of lands from them, for him- 
self and his associates, within the present State of Rhode-Island, in 1660, 
which were the occasion of many disputes. He died suddenly, September, 
1661, by a fall from his horse. — S. 



103 

great with child, forcing them and their children to run deep 
into the water, to get into the boat for fear of them.* We be- 
taking ourselves to one of our houses, for our defence, they 
presently appeared in sight. S. Gorton being out of the 
house, to convey his wife (who was great with child) towards 
tiie water side for her escape, espied them about musket shot 
from the house, the way which they came being full of wood ; 
they were not sooner discerned, but he called unto them, to 
keep without the distance of musket shot, calling to his friends 
in the house, also to stand to their arms, for a band of soldiers 
consisting of English and Indians were in sight; so com- 
mitting his wife to some of Providence, which came along 
with them, to convey her to the boat, betook himself to the 
house with the rest. These our loving neighbors, inhabit- 
ing near unto us in that town where Master Williams sat 
down, being deeply affected with the proceedings of the 
Massachusetts, coming down unto us along with them, to 
be eye and ear witnesses how things were carried at our 
meeting; who instantly urged the Captain and officers, for 
a parley; who denied to yield or grant any such thing, but 
professed they would fall upon us presently, unless it might 
be private betwixt themselves and us, and none else to hear 
it, professing to make despatch of us in one quarter of an 
hour's work;"!" vvhich we understanding, refused to enter in- 

* The wife of S. Gorton, and some of her children, she being ready to lie 
down in child-bed, was so dealt with by the soldiers, the boat hastening off 
for fear; if one of her sons could not have swimmed, had been left behind 
her, so was glad to betake himself to the water, though young, to recover the 
boat. 

t They had so animated and encouraged the soldiers, yea, so incensed 
them against us, that they were loth to entertain speech or parley, though 
they say in their last writing, they came to examine cases of right and 
wrong, which could not appear without parley; nay, some of their soldiers, 
picked out to be at the parley, professed to some of us, when they came to 
visit us, as we lay in bolts and irons amongst tJiem, com.ing in the night. 



104 

to parley, unless our said neighbors of Providence might be 
present to witness the passages of it; but at the last, after 
much affectionate urging, they yielded to a parley; and 
four of Providence men to be chosen out as witnesses, 
which we freely consented unto the mutual choice of them, 
and accordingly we met together; and we demanding of 
them the end of their coming; they pretended we had done 
some wrong unto certain of their subjects, as also that we 
held blasphemous errors, which we must either repent of, 
©r go down to the Blassachusetts, to be tried at their Courts, 
or else they had commissioTi to put us to the sword, and to 
pay themselves out of our goods, for their charges in coming 
thither; to which we made answer, we could not yield theje- 
unto, that they that were our professed adversaries should be 
our judges, we being so far out of all their jurisdictions; but 
freely tendered our appeal to the Honorable State of Eng- 
land in any thing that could be objected against us, which 
they peremptoiily refused. We then offered to put our case 
to arbitration by indifferent men, mutually chosen in the 
country, engaging our goods, our lands, and our persons, 
to make full satisfaction for any thing that could be brought 
in or appear against us; which proposition seemed so rea- 
sonable, not only in the eyes of the witnesses, but also to 
the Captain and the rest, that there was a truce agreed 
upon, until such time as a messenger being dispatched into 

nor daring to see us in thedaj', professed in these words: When we came 
first to the ground we were mad to fight, and to fall upon you without 
speech or parley, but after we saw you, and heard you speak, many of us 
had rather have been on your side, than for the cause we came, and the 
Captain seeing some of us discouraged to fight, would not permit us to dis- 
course with any of Providence men, lest they should speak on your behalf; 
and this we know, that some that did signify unto them any small thing 
concerning the equity of our cause, the Captain seized on them for prison- 
ers, and kept them in bonds, during the time of their abode there, and much 
ndo to release them, that they had not taken them down into the Massa- 
chu'elts, to undergo further punishments. 



lO.') 

the Massachusetts, niiglit return with the answer of the 
Governor and Assistants, during the time of which truce, 
they broke open our houses, and our desks, taking away 
our writings; killed our cattle for themselves and the In- 
dians, whom they brought with them, to live upon, taking 
the bedding with other necessaries in our houses, for the 
soldiers to lie upon, and make use of, not only at that time, 
but afterwards in their trenches, during the time of their 
league; assaulting some of our friends, both men, women 
and children, who only came to see us in that sad time of 
extremity, hearing there vv^as a truce concluded for a season, 
endeavoring to cut them off', upon tlie water, (being in a 
small vessel) by shooting half a score or a dozen muskets 
at them, before they could get out of their reach, which 
they very narrowly escaped; during the time of this truce 
the men of Providence (unknown to us) sent a letter to the 
Government of the Massachusetts, to inform them how 
tilings had been carried at our meeting, whereof they were 
eye and ear witnesses. 

Ji true copy of the Letter sent hij the men of Prov'vhnee, chosen 
to be icitnesses of all passages in way of our parley, io the 
Governor of the Massachusetts, in way of mediation for 
peace, to prevent countrymen from spilling one anoiher^s 
blood; it is here set down, verbatim, according to the origi- 
nal copy still extant. 

Providence, the 2d of the 8th mo. 1643, so called. 
Worthy Sir: — Let it not seem absurd, that we whose 
names are here underwritten, present you with these ensu- 
ing lines. We lately hearing read a copy of your writing, 
directed to Samuel Gorton, and that company, as also some 
of us being requested by our neighbor Cole, (your subject") 
and all requested by Samuel Gorton and his company to 
hear and see the truth of proceedings on both sides, our 
consciences persuading us, that these desires were reason- 
able, and for aught we knew, might be a means (if God so 
p 



106 

wrought) to prevent the shedding of blood; these things we 
say considered, may (as before) cause our boldness. We 
therefore, being filled with grief at such a spectacle, that 
the English should shed English blood, do desire to ac- 
quaint you with what we did observe during that respite, 
that was condescended to, for a treaty; therefore to proceed, 
after your commission was read, S. Gorton his com{)any 
did desire to know in what particulars you did demand sat- 
isfaction; the propositions being declared, were four. 

First. To get them off the Indians' ground, which your 
Commissioners said, they had but intruded. 

Secondly. For satisfaction about a book, wherein your 
Commissioners said, were gross things penned. 

Thirdly. For satisfaction for wrong done, both to Eng- 
lish and Indians, under your subjection. 

Fourthly. For charges, which your Commissioners said,^ 
they had caused by forcing this army. 

Unto the first they answered, that the ground was theirs, 
and they were the true owners; and that by ihe same right 
that you did claim it, it being long before subjected to the 
Narragansett Sachem, and purchased by them of Miantono- 
mi, and (to take away all color of claim) of Pomham also, 
and they having quiet possession of the same, until this 
trouble; and therefore did conceive you had wronged them, 
by bringing an army to force them from their ground. Your 
Commissioners pleaded, it was your right, by the Indians 
.subjecting to you, and thereupon were very resolute to take 
them off by force; which they questioned not, but immedi- 
ately to perform; the others as resolute, considering, they 
said, they had bought it, and vowed to stand upon their law- 
ful defence, though to the last drop of their blood, the reso- 
lution on both sides being so hot, that we thought immedi- 
ately the battle would have begun; they did then appeal to 
the highest Court in Old England, for the trial of their right, 
which when your Commissioners refused, they did again of- 



107 

fer to put to the trial oT iiuliHinent judges in tins country, 
which were parties of neither side; and counted it unrea- 
sonable, that force should be oflered before the cause were 
tried, which they judged you could not do, being parties in 
the cause; and promised to stand to the determination of 
those judges, to the utmost of their estates and persons. 

Secondly, being demanded by your Commissioners satis- 
faction for the book, wherein they declared gross things 
were penned, they answered, that they would put it, as the 
former, to be judged by indiflereni judges, both the terms 
and satisfaction. 

To the third, for satisfaction for wrong done, both to In- 
dians and English; they answered they would give full sat- 
isfaction. 

Concerning the fourth, wherein was great expense and 
charges required; they answered likewise as in the former, 
that they would pay and give to the utmost satisfaction, if 
the arbitrators judged, that they vvere the cause of raising it; 
and would as fully and freely submit, as to eat and drink: 
These being, in short, the heads, we leave the more ample 
relation to your Commissioners. Sir, so fair propositions 
offered, we hope will work your affections to the utmost 
end, of preventing blood-spilling: Nay, we hope, if it be 
but upon the point of honor, rather that you will be losers, 
than take the utmost; the case we cannot but be sadly af- 
fected with, knowing it will be dishonorable to the Lord; if 
those who profess themselves Christians, should not take 
the best means for peace; we hope you will not in the least 
measure take it unkindly for any hint unto you; neither 
that you will despise Abigail's counsel, for Nabal's churlish- 
ness; let the Lord smite them, and his hand be upon them, 
if they sin against him. If one man sin ag-ainst another, 
the Judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the 
Lord, who shall intreat for him! 1 Sam. ii. 25. Now their 
proposition is, for man to judge as that first part of the al- 
leged Scripture doth declare. Some of their wives and 



108 



children iifa mournrul spectacle might move }ouj do beg 
for a serious consideration of their husbands' and fathers' 
propositions, which if not hearkened unto, were like in man's 
eye, to be left miserable. We would they were able to write 
their own grief, which now in pity we have respect unto. 
Oh, how grievous would it be (we hope to you) if one man 
should be slain, considering the greatest monarch in the 
world cannot make a inan; especially grievous, seeing they 
offer terms of peace. Sir, we know not how to end, nor 
what to s;iy. We must abruptly leave, desiring your wis- 
dom to cover our defects with love, and answer for us, if 
any shall challenge us. 

CHAD BROWN, 
THOMAS OLNEr, 
WILLIAM FIELD, 
WILLIAM WICKENDEN.' 

1 Chad Brown removed to Providence from Massachusetts, in 1636, a 
short time after Williams. He was pastor of the Baptist Church there, in 
1642. He had children, John, who married a Holmes, daughter of the 
Rev. Obadiah Holmes; Daniel, who married a Hurenden; James, Jeremi- 
ah and Judah. The last two removed to Rhode-Island. Judah died, 10th 
of May, 1663. 

Thomas Olney, probably came to this country from Hertford, England, 
as his son Thomas was born there, 1631. After his arrival in this country, 
he was a member of the Salem Church, from which he was excommunicat- 
ed for uniting in the errors of Williams. He removed from Salem to Prov- 
idence, and is the ninth named in AVilliams's tirst deed. He was one of 
the Assistants named in the Charter oi Charles H. to the colony of Rhode- 
Island and Providence Plantations, in 1663. His will bears date March 21, 
1680, and was pros'ed Oct. 17, 1682. His children were Epenetus, who 
married Mary Whipple; Mary, who married John Whipple; Thomas, af- 
terwards pastor of the Baptist Church at Providence, who married Eliza- 
beth Marsh of Newport; and Lydia,who married Joseph, son of Roger Wil- 
liams. 

William Field, was one of the early settlers of Providence. His house 
stood a little East of where the Providence Bank now is. It was a garri- 
son house. The Commissioners of the four colonies met at his house in 1677. 



109 

Here followeth a true copy of a letter wrilten by tlie Gov- 
ernor of the Massachusetts, in answer to tlie men of Prov- 
idence, oftheir letter written unto him, in way of mediation 
for peace; which is here set down, verbatim, the letter be- 
ing extant under his own hand: 
Neighbors of Providence. 

I have received a letter sul)scribcd by four of you, whom 
I hear are not of the confederacy vvith Gorton, Holden, and 
the rest of that company, wherein as mediators you inter- 
cede between them and us, in the differences now between 
us; the return of the messenger is so hasty, that I cannot 
make a full answer to every thing you have mentioned in 
your letter: only you may rest satisfied with this, that the 
commission and instructions given to the Commissioners 
now at Providence was not rashly and inconsiderately drawn 
up; but by the mature advice of the wisest and godliest 
amongst us, assembled in a General Court, which I have 
not power to reverse or alter; and for the justness of the 
Court's proceedings therein, you may do well to take fur- 
ther notice, that besides the title of land, between the In- 
dians and the English there, there are twelve of the English 
that have subscribed their names to horrible and detestable 
blasphemies, against God, and all magistracy; who are 
rather to be judged as blasphemers, (especially if they per- 
sist therein) rather than that they should delude us, by win- 
ning time, under pretence of arbitration; I doubt not, but 
you well know^ that wo have often sent to them, to plead 

William Wickenden was colleague with Chad Brown, in the pastoral 
charge of the Baptist Church at Providence. He removed from Salem, and 
was received a purchaser at Providence, before August 20, 1637. He was 
at one time in New-York, where it is said he preached and was imprison- 
ed for it about four months. He died Feb. 23, 1670. His son William 
married Eleanor Sheringham of Newport, and his daughter Plain, Samuel, 
eldest son of Lawrence Wilkinson. He had two other daughters, one of 
which married a Steerc, and liie other a Smith. — S. 



110 

their title to the land, unci to make answer for their blasphe- 
mies, and that we lately sent them safe conducts for their 
coming and returning;* for all which we have received 
from them nothing but storms, contempt, and revilings, in the 
worst expressions they could cast them into; so that the 
promise of protection made by us, to Pomham, &c. the vin- 
dication of Gou's honour, and many reasons concerning 
our safety, have necessarily put us upon this course with 
them; notwithstanding which, if any of them will in peace- 
able manner, repair unto us, under the conduct of our Com- 
missioners, no violence shall be offered to them by our sol- 
diers there, and our justice here; but if they refuse, and 
ofler violence, let the hurt they receive, be upon their own 
heads; further, (which I had forgotten) where you say their 
offer of arbitration is fair, you may do well to be better 
informed, and to know that the bottom of it is easily sound- 
ed, which is to win time, to discourage the Indians, | under 
our subjection, and to give them time and opportunity, to stir 
up (as much as in them lieth) the other Indians against us; J 
for to whom would they refer their matters? to yourselves 
whom we know not, but have just cause to fear, in respect 
ofyour vicinity unto them, and your now mediation for them; 
and to those of Rhode-Island, divers of whom we know too 
well, to refer any matters unto.|l The best office you can 



* Whicli was only words expressed ia tlieir paper formerly sent uuto us. 

t Fearing lest the true and natural Prince of these their Indian subjects, 
should shew them their folly in this their subjection, and to win them again 
unto himsolf, and thereby leave them without this color and pretence to 
workout their own ends upon us. 

4; Behold here their guilt, in th,U they had unjustly drawn, by insinuation, 
the Indians from their lawful Prince, as also that subtle wrong they did to 
us, suggesting secretly unto the people, as though there were fear of aome 
combination between the Indians and us, to stir up soldiers by that means 
to come out against us. 

II Behold how these men can evade all fair propositions to prosecute and 



\n 

perform unto tlicm is, to persuade (hem to attend to their 
own safety, by yielding to the lawful demand of our Com- 
missioners, from which as I said before, 1 cannot vary. So 
I rest Your Loving JNcighbor. 

JO. AMNTIIROP.' 
Boston, 8th mo. 3d, 1643. 

Now after the interchange of these letters, between the 
men of Providence, and the Governor of the Massachusetts, 



bring forth their own spirit; yea, even to the death of their countrymen, if 
it be but by casting aspersions upon those that hold not just length and 
breadth in religion with them. 

1 It appears from Sav. Wiiit. vol. 2d, p. 139, that the Commissioners al- 
so wrote to the Governor of Massachusetts, stating Gorton's proposal to 
submit their differences to arbitrators, " so as some might be of Providence 
or Aquiday," alleging that they of the Massachusetts " were parties, and 
so not equal judges." Thi.s letter reached ihe Governor when a committee 
of the General Court was convened about the news of Miantonomi's death. 
After consulting with some of the elders, it was agreed, says Winlhrop, 
" that it was neither seasonable nor reasonable, neither safe nor honorable, 
for us to accept of such a proposition. 1. Because they would never ofTer 
us any terms of peace before we had sent our soldiers. 2. Because the 
ground of it was false, for we were not parties in the case between the In- 
dians and them, but the proper Judges, they being all within our jurisdiction 
by the Indians and English their own grant. 3. They were no State, hut 
a few fugitives, hving without law or government, and so not honorable for 
us to join with them in such a course. 4. The parties whom they would 
refer it unto, were such as were rejected by us and all the Governments in 
the country, and besides not men likely to be equal to us, or able to judge of 
the cause. 5th. Their blasphemous and reviling writings, &.c. were not 
matters fit to be compounded by arbitrament, but to be purged away only 
by repentance and public satisfaction, or else by public punishment. And 
lastly, the commission and instructions being given by the General Couit, it 
was not in our power to alter them." 

The reasons given by Governor Winthrop for refusing the propositions of 
Gorton, are inserted, that it may be seen whether Gorton had not some 
cause to suspect the impartiality of those who had assumed to be his judg- 
es. — S. 



112 

>vhich we at the present were Ignorant of, when certain days 
were expired, the messenger sent by the Commissioners in- 
to the Massachusetts to acquaint them with our proposi- 
tions returned; which we perceived by their shooting off of 
guns at his coming; and the first thing we discerned in 
them, they sent out and gathered all our cattle together, 
and took them into their own custody, sending two soldiers 
unto us to give us notice, that the time of truce was expir- 
ed; and that our propositions could in no case be accepted 
or embraced by the Massachusetts. We then desiring to 
speak with the Captain and the officers, they utterly denied 
to have any speech with us; but immediately entrenched 
themselves, and the same day gave fire upon us; where- 
upon to shew our allegiance to the State of Old England, we 
hung out the English colours, which they perceiving, shot 
the more violently against us, shooting the colours many 
times through and through. Now when the messenger from 
the Massachusetts returned, coming through the town of 
Providence, two of the men of Providence came along to 
Shawomet, to see how things vvere carried, and what the 
news was at his return; and however the Commissioners 
would not speak with us, yet the men of Providence went 
unto them and had speech with them, whom they warned to 
come no more unto us, upon their peril, for they were re- 
solved of their course; therefore whoever came near unto 
us, they would take them for their enemies. For when the 
Governor and Assistants of the Massachusetts, perceived 
that the Commissioners had declared their errand unto us 
in plainer terms than they intended it should have been, 
they thought, to make the house we were in our grave, 
was the best way to vindicate the moderation of their equal 
justice towards us, as plainly appeared by their practice, 
and course held concerning us. 

Here follovveth a true copy of the testimony of the two 
men of Providence, who came to Shawomet at the return 



113 

ol'tlie mesriougcr out of the Massachusetts, verbatim, ex- 
taut under their own hands: 

We testify, that upon the return of the answer, from the 
Bay, the Captain refused the former ofl'or of appeal to Eng- 
land, or arbitration in the country, with the said Samuel 
Gorton and his company; but inmiediately dissolved the 
truce, and the same day proceeded to give fire upon them. 

RICHARD SCOTT, 
WILLIAM HARRIS.' 

And so continued for divers days together, in their fierce 
assault. The Sabbafh approaching, we imagining they 

' Richard Scott was admitted a member of the Boston Church, August 
28, 1634. lie married a sister of the famous Mrs. Hutchinson, and re- 
'moved with her from Massachusetts. Winthrop says, his wife "was infected 
with Anabaptistry," and tliat Williams " was taken or rather emboldened 
by her to make open profession thereof." Scott afterwards became a Qua- 
ker, and Gov. Hopkins says, the first of that sect in New-England. He was 
one of liie early settlers of Providence. The tradition is, that his wife and 
daughter, in 1C57, were whipped ten lashes in Boston, for visiting a Quaker 
prisoner there. 

William Harris arrived at Salem in 1635. He removed to Providence 
with Williams, and is the seventh named in William's first deed. On the 
24th of Jariua.iy, 1679, he sailed /or England on board of the ship Unity of 
Boston, William Condy, master, as agent of the Pawtuxet purchasers. In the 
course of this voyage he was taken by a Barbary corsair and carried to Al- 
giers, wliere he remained in captivity more than a year. He was redeem- 
ed at the cost of about ^'1200, travelled through Spain and France, and ar- 
rived in London in 16S0, and died the third day after his arrival, at the house 
of his friend John Stokes. He executed his will at Newport before he sail- 
ed for England. That is dated Dec. 4, 1678. The witnesses to it were 
examined relative to its execution the same da)', before John Whipple, As- 
sistant. It was afterwards proved at I'rovidence, Feb. 20, 1682. His 
children were Andrew, who married I\Iary Tew of Newport; Toleration, 
who was killed by the Indians about 1675; Mary, who married Thomas 
Borden; and Howlong, who married Arthur Fenner. >».j.i i, , 

In the divisions which pervaded the colony at Providence, Harris and 
\V'illiams wore generally liic leaders of opposite parties. — S. 



114 

would not have continued theiv assault upon that day, anji 
were very confidant that they would go about no such work 
upon the night before the Sabbath; being we knew well 
that they held the Sabbath begins in the evening going be- 
fore, and that they had no less ground for it than Master 
Cotton's judgment; as also that it was one of their laws 
that the breach of the Sabbath is to be punished with death. ^ 
Now what they may judge the killing of their countrymen 
causelessly upon that day is, whether to keep or break the 
Sabbath, we leave to all men to judge. 

But contrary to our expectations, early in the morning 
having prepared their fire-works, they attempted to burn 
the house wherein we were, seconding their fire with the 
discharge of above four hundred shot against us, according 
to the soldiers' account, who afterwards told us how many 
shots they had made that morning, according to the empty- 
ing of their bandaliers; all which time, they told us, Captain 
Cooke stood behind such a great white oak tree, whom we 
heard encouraging his soldiers to come on with courage, 
thinking himself in safety; and so he was, for we discharg- 
ed not a gun that morning, nor of all the time of their siege ; 
but only two in the night-time fit random, to scare them 
from working their trenches near unto us; for we had con- 
cluded to take away the lives of none of our countrymen, 
unless they off'ered to enter violently upon us, which we on- 
ly fitted ourselves to prevent such assaults, or else that we 
were forced out upon them by the firing of our house; only 
we perceived our words to be shot good enough to keep 
them aloof. For we called cheerfully upon the Captain to 
come on and bring up his men; for he should find us very 
cheerful spirits to deal with; and that we would make him as 

• In the body of laws drawn up by the Rev. iMr. Cotton, and printed in 
London in 1642, is the following: 

" Profaning the Lord's day in a careless and scornful neglect or contempt 
thereof, to be punished with death." — S. 



115 

good a Sabbuth-day'ri breakfast, a3 he ever had in his life; 
our eare was only to quench the fire which they had laid to 
the wall before we were aware; but we saw the wind take 
the flame so from the wall, that it kindled not upon the 
iiouse. ^Vhenthc day began to break. Captain Cooke called 
to the soldi<3rs, to go on with a fresh assault; but we heard 
some of bis soldiers, deny to come on again, being the fire 
took not; and the day beginning to be light, they thought we 
might shoot from the house at some certainty; we called on 
the Captain to animate his soldiers, for we understood (we 
told him) his chariot wheels began to drive very heavy, and 
were in danger to fall off", and that was all the violence we 
offered to our countrymen, in this their so eager an assault, 
though we heard the Captain in the beginning of it, give 
strict charge to the soldiers, that they should not let one es- 
cape alive, but to put all to the sword, thinking the fire 
would have taken, and so we have been a prey for them: 
But however, we discharged not a piece against them, be- 
iao- loth to spill the blood of our countrymen, though to the 
hazard of our own lives; yet were we well provided and could 
easily have done them much hurt; only stood upon our de- 
fence, so as they durst not make entry upon us. After 
which assaults, they sent back into the Massachusetts for 
more aid; but in the meantime, another parley was pro- 
cured, wherein we consented to go down into the Massa- 
chusetts upon composition, to prevent the spilling cf blood, 
which we could no longer refrain in the defence of our- 
selves, they having approached so near unto us; the condi- 
tion whereof was this, that we should go along with them 
as free men and neighbors, as though such passages had 
never been betwixt us; which the Captain and his company 
consenting unto, beat up the drum and gathered his soldiers 
together, seeming joyful that things were so concluded; 
whereupon the Captain desired to see our house; which 
request we lovingly embraced, thinking he intended 



118 

to refresh himself and his soldiers with such provisioas as 
we had, before we set out upon our journey towards the 
Massachusetts; but no sooner was he come into the house, 
but contrary to the articles of our agreement, he seized upon 
our arms, using us as captives, and presently carried us 
away, not suffering us to dispose of any of our goods, that 
were in or about our houses, having not so much as a ser- 
vant left behind, and so left them all as pillage to the In- 
dians;* the Captain giving charge unto the soldiers that if 
any of us spake a word in our journey to give any of them 
discontent, that they should presently knock us down; and 
if they saw any of us step aside, out of the place designed 
unto us, that they should run us through, and he would 
bear them out, in that their action. And withal they drove 
away our cattle into the Massachusetts, dividing and dis- 
posing of them amongst themselves; only some of them 
they had disposed of to such of their subjects, as lived near 
unto us, who had been instruments and assistants unto them, 
to bring about and effect this work. The number of cattle 
which they took from us, was four-score head, or therea- 
bouts, besides swine and goats which they and the Indians 
lived upon during the time of their siege, also breaking vi- 
olently into our houses, taking away our corn, with other 
provisions provided for our families to live upon. 

Here followeth another testimony, of divers of the men 
of Providence, given under their hands, set dov.nhere, ver- 
batim, for the clearing of these matters; which writing is 
extant: 

Providence, this present January the SOth, 1644. 

We, whose names are here underwritten, inhabitants of 
the town of Providence, in the Narragansett Bay, in New- 

* Which they had promised to do as they came on the way towards us, 
to encourage the Indians to come with them against us; in the healing of 
some of our friends. 



117 



England, being rc»iuc.stccl hy Siunucl Gorton, lliinduU Hol- 
dcn, John Wickca and Jolin Warner, with divers others of 
our countrymen, to testify what wo know concerning their 
late suiTerings from the Bay of the Massachusetts, we take 
ourselves bound in conscience, to answer their request, 
and in a word of trutii impartially to witness. 

First. That our countrymen aforesaid, were peaceably 
possessed of a plantation, at Shawomet, amongst the na- 
tives, some ten or a dozen miles beyond this town of Prov- 
idence. 

Secondly. Tiiat the Bay of Massachusetts sent up 
through this town of Providence, one Captain Cooke and 
his company, in warlike manner ; who actually assaulted and 
besieged our foresaid countrymen, who stood upon their 
own defence. 

Thirdly. That the wives and children of our foresaid 
countrymen, upon these hostile courses, were affrighted, and 
scattered in great extremities, and divers since are dead. 

Fourthly. The said Captain Cooke and his company car- 
ried captive our foresaid countrymen through this town of 
Providence, to the Bay of Massachusetts. 

Fifthly. Their goods, cattle, houses and plantations were 
seized upon by the foresaid Captain, and his company; the 
cattle were part killed by the soldiers, and the rest by agents 
from the Bay, disposed of, and driven away to the said Bay 
of Massachusetts. 

RICHARD SCOTT, WILLIAM BURROWS, 

WILLIAM HARRIS, JOSHUA WINSOR, 

WILLIAM FIELD, JOHN FIELD, 

STUKELY WESTCOTT, THOMAS ANGELL, 
HUGH BE WITT, WILLIAM REYNOLDS, 

THOMAS HARRIS, ADAM GOODWIN.' 



' Stukely Westcott removed to Providence, in April, 1638, and was tlie 
first named in Williams's first deed. His daughter Damaris, married Bene- 



118 

Now, as we passed along on the way to the Massachu- 
setts, which was about three score or three score and ten 
miles, in the common account of men, from our plantations 

diet Arnold. His sons were Jeremiah, William, Samuel, Josiah, Benjamin 
and Slukely. He held to entire and rigid separation from the Church of 
England, and denied the Churches of Massachusetts to be true Churches; for 
which the Church at Salem passed " the great censure" on hmi, as early as 
the first of July, 1639. Before this he and his wife, had been rebaptized 
by Williams. 

Hugh Bewitt, in Dec. 1640, was banished from Massachusetts. He was 
found '-guilty of heresy, and that his person and errors are dangerous for 
the infection of others." He was ordered for this '• to be gone out of our 
jurisdiction by the 24th inst. upon pain of death, and not to return upon 
pain of being hanged." He removed to Providence, where he was received 
a purchaser. On his second removal, which was shortly after, he sold his 
purchase right to some persons residing in Boston. 

Thomas Harris was received a purchaser of Providence previous to Au- 
gust 20, 1637. He was brother to William Harris. He left a will, which 
was proved July 20, 1686. He had children, Thomas, who married Phe- 
be Brown, Richard, Nicholas, William, Henry, Elethan, who married Na- 
thaniel Brown, Joab, Amity, who married a Morse, Mary, who married a 
Bernon, and Job. 

William Burrows. The time of his settlement in Providence, I have 
not been able to ascertain. He was alive in 1663, when a subscription 
was opened for his relief. 

Joshua Winsor was received a purchaser at Providence, before Aug. 20, 
1637. He came from the borough of Windsor, England. He had one son 
Samuel, and three daughters, Sarah, Susan and Mary. Samuel married 
Mercy Waterman, widow of Resolved Waterman, and daughter of Roger 
Williams. Five of the descendants of Samuel, all of the name of Winsor, 
were settled Baptist ministers within the State of Rhode-Island. 

John Field removed from Bridgewater to Providence, soon after its set- 
tlement. 

Thomas Angell came originally from London. According to one tradi- 
tion, he crossed the Seekonk river in the first canoe with Williams, whose 
apprentice or servant he then was. Another tradition makes him the ap- 
prentice of Richard Waterman. He died before Sept. 18, 1694; ash's 



119 

at Shawomct, after they were come into the towns within 
their own jurisdictions, in some towns their minister which 
the sohlicrs hrought along with thcin aj;ainst us, gathered 
the people together, in tiic open streets, went to prayers, 
t!iat the people might take notice, what they had done, was 
done in a holy manner, and in the name of the Lord; and 
when they came to Dorchester, there being many people 
o-athered together, with divers of their ministers, as Master 
Cotton and Master Mather, ' &c. there they placed us at 
their pleasure, as they thought fit to have us stand, and 
made voUies of shot, over our heads in sign of victory;* 
and when we were come to Boston, and brought before the 
Governor's door, the sohlicrs placing themselves and us 
as they thought fit and orderly, the Governor coming forth, 
walking throughout all the compjiny of soldiers, blessed 
-them; the word which he used as he still passed along, was 
this; God bless you, and prosper you — God bless and pros- 
per you.t Vv'hen this was done, we were brought into the 



will was proved on that day. His children were John, James, Amphyllis, 
Mary, Deborah, Alice and Margery. 

William Reynolds was received a purchaser of Providence, before Au- 
gust 20, 1637. 

Of Adam Goodwin I can find no traces whatever, except that ho was 
one of the early settlers of Providence. — S. 

1 Probably Ilichard Mather, third minister of Dorchester, lie came to 
New-England in 1635, and was settled over that f'hnrch, Ang. 23, 1C3(». 
He died Apri^ 22, 1669, aged 73 years.— S. 

* A great triumph for a whole country, to carry away eleven n.en (and 
that upon fair composition also, if they had kept touch with us; for one of 
us, that is, Sampson Shotton, was dead before by hardship, which some of 
their spirit had put upon him;) and but ten of us that handled arms. 

t We thought ha did it to imitate IMelchisedek, coming out to bless Abra- 
ham, when he came from the slaughter of the Kings, in the rescue of I ol, 
he did it so gravely and solemnly, only the Captain wanted the spirit of 
Abraham for all his good success, yet we thought he was not incapable to 
communicate in that prayer or blessing of the Covcrnor, for his errand (o 



120 

Governor's hall, before the Governor, Mr John Winthrop, 
unto whom we complained, how the Captain had used us, 
contrary to our articles: but he told us whatever the Cap- 
tain might express unto us, his intent was to have us as 
captives, and their captives now we were; and unto the 
common jail we must go, without either bail or mainprize; 
where we continued until the Court sat, and the country com- 
ing in on every side to understand the cause why they had so 
proceeded against us; and they laboring to give the coun- 
try satisfaction, rehearsed in the ears of the people, divers 
gross opinions, which they had compiled together, out of 
our writing, which we abhorred; as that, we should deny the 
human nature of Christ, which they gathered from this, that 
we professed his death to be effectual to the fathers, before 
tlie time of his incarnation in the womb of the Virgin; also, 
that we denied all the Churches of Jesus Christ, because 
w'e could not join with them in that way of church order, 
which they had established amongst them; again, that we 
denied all the holy ordinances of Christ, because we could 
not join with them in their way of administration ; as also, 
that we denied all civil magistracy, because we could not 
yi(^ld to their authority, to be exercised in those parts 
where we lived, (that place being above four and twenty 
miles out of their bounds) which we should not once have 
questioned, if we had been within the compass of their ju- 
risdiction; as it well appeared by our carriage, all the time 
v/e were amongst them; as also by our sundry appeals unto 
this State, which have been denied unto us; yea, and since 
that gi'eat favor granted, and given unto that people of 
Providence Plantations, in a late charter of civil govern- 
ment ' from this State, our humble respects unto all such 

us, was to utter and exercise the ppirit of the Government, in his commis- 
sion made manifest. 

'A copy ofthisclirnter may bo found in Appendix, No. 17. — S. 



121 

authority hath Ijccii made manifest to all men; not only in 
our unanimous andjoylul embracing of it, but also some of 
us by the general vote of the whole colony, have been chosen 
into the place of judicature for the orderly execution of the 
authority of the charter; yea, some of us that are now here 
present at the publication hereof. Now when we desired 
liberty to speak in the Court, to answer to such things as 
were alleged and read in the ears of the people, such as is 
above, with divers more to the number of about six and 
twenty, all drawn from our writing formerly mentioned in 
this treatise, we denied that we either held, or had written 
any such thing; and desired our writing might be read in 
open Court, that it might appear what was in it; which was 
denied unto us, only their charges must appear, by the af- 
firmation of the Bench; for no other man or woman appear- 
ed to testify a word against us, and when we continued to 
deny the constructions they had given of our writings, and 
abstracted from them, denying them to be ours, we were 
commanded silence; Master Thomas Dudley, one of the 
Bench, standing up, charging us to be silent; and told us if 
we were not, they would lay irons upon our legs and upon 
our hands and also upon our necks; whereupon the Court 
for that time was dissolved, no man objecting against us in 
the least, in any wrong or injury betwixt man and man; nei- 
ther at that time, nor in any time of all our trial amongst 
them. After which, they brought us forth, divers times, be- 
fore their Court, which then sat more privately in a cham- 
ber, the door being kept very carefully, that none should 
enter, but only whom they thought fit to permit; their Court 
then consisting of about a dozen magistrates, and about for- 
ty deputies, chosen out of several towns as were thought 
fit, and many of their ministers usually present with them 
to assist in the work; they then questioned and examined 
us apart, to the uttermost they could, to get some matter 
against us from our own mouths, and also usually sending 

G 



122 

their agents, as elders* and members of (heir Churches,! un- 
to us in prison, frequently putting questions unto us to get 

* Old Mr. Ward, ' once lecturer at St. Michael's, in Cornhill, London, 
came to the prison window, and called to him, one of our society, namely 
Richard Carder, who had once lived near together in Essex. Mr. Ward 
seemed to be much affected, being a man knows how to put himself into 
passion, desired the said Richard, that if he had done or said anything that 
he could with good conscience renounce, he desired him to recant it, and he 
hoped the Court would be very merciful; and saith he, it shall be no dis- 
paragement unto you; for here is our reverend elder, Mr. Cotton, 2 who 
ordinarily preacheth that publicly one year, that the next year he publicly 
repents of, and shews himself very sorrowful for it to the congregation; so 
that (saith he) it will be no disgrace for you to recant in such a case. 

t Usually coming to us into the prison, many of them together. As also 
when we were put apart in the time of our examination, one of the mem- 
bers of the Church of Boston, telling some of us in his own house, that he 
was persuaded that he did not worship the true God, for, saith he, then he not 
have permitted you to be brought down from your own plantations amongst 
us; for, saith he, I am persuaded that our Churches shall not be overcome 
by any people that should come out against them; his wife standing by, be- 
ing an ingenious woman, made answer to our content before we could 
speak; Husband, (saith she) pray do not boast before the victory be known, 
it may be the battle is not yet ended. 

' Probably Rev. Nathaniel Ward, first minister of Ipswich, well known 
as the author of" The Simple Cobbler of Agawam." He was born at Ha- 
verhill, England, 1570, and was educated at Cambridge. He came to this 
country in June, 1634. In 1647 he returned to England, and died therein 
1653— S. 

~ John Cotton was second minister of the Church at Boston, and col- 
league with Wilson. He arrived in this country in Sept. 1633, and died in 
1652, aged 67. His influence was by no means confined to his Church, 
nor to the religious concerns of the colony. His advice was sought on eve- 
ry great occasion, even by the General Court, and in these days, it will 
perhaps be thought, he was too eager to give it, and too anxious to have it 
followed. It is not unlikely we are in part indebted to the imagination of 
the Simple Cobbler of .Agawam for this anecdote. If he had reference to 
Cotton's conduct in the Antinomian controversy, there was some color, at 
least, for the remark. — S. 



123 

occasion against us, thus continuing lur the space of two or 
three weeks together, during which time Master Willson' 
ordinarily in his sermons, pressed the magistrates and the 
people to take away our lives, from that text of the King of 
Israel, letting Benhadcd,go; applying it unto them; that if 
they let us escape with life, their life should then go for our 
life, and their people for our people, urging them from that 
of Samuel and Agag, to hew and cut us in pieces. Master 
Cotton, also in his sermons, encouraged the people in the 
lawfulness of their dealings with us, from that in the Reve- 
lations, where it is said, The kingdoms of this world are the 
kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ's; whence he observ- 
ed, that they being the kingdom of Christ, they were bound 
to go out against all people, to subdue all such unto them- 
selves as are weaker than they, otherwise they might stay 
at home within themselves, and serve God with all their 
hearts; but they could not serve him with all their might, 
unless they went out to subdue others, and so would be 
guilty of the breach of that command, viz. Thou shalt serve 
the Lord thy God, with all thy strength. Now after our 
many consultations, and debating of matters with the mag- 
istrates and ministers, not only in the Court, sometimes one 
of us answering and declaring of his mind, only in matters 
of religion, a whole day together, yea, part by candle light, 
besides all their more private conferences in the prison, 
and at other houses where we were put apart, in custody 
one from another, in the time of our examination; at the 
last the Court sent for S. Gorton out of prison, to appear 
before them; and when he came before them, the Governor 
told him he heard there was exception taken, that there 

' Jolm Wilson was the first minister of the Church at Boston. He was 
born in Windsor, 1588. He came to New-England with Governor Win- 
throp, in 1680, from Sudbury, England, where he had been settled. He 
«!ied August 7, 1667— S. 



124 

should be a rumor that it was for some civil things Ihey had 
so proceeded against us, and yet no man appeared to ob- 
ject the least against us, in any civil respect; unto which 
the Governor himself gave answer (not expecting an answer 
from Gorton) that they had set their subjects, the Indians, 
in their own land, and that was all they looked after in that 
respect, but they never questioned in public, whether it was 
right or wrong to take it from us, only had privately called 
one of us, which was one of the interpreters, at the buying 
of it, and the Indians their subjects together, to see what 
could be said in it, and found the Indians, by their own con- 
fession, to make things so clear on our behalf, that they 
thought it not fit to bring it into public scanning of the mat- 
ter. The Governor then told Gorton, he was now to an- 
swer some things that should be propounded unto him, upon 
his life, for it was upon his life that now he was to answer; 
unto which Gorton made answer, that he was to shew unto 
them all dutiful subjection that might be, being under the 
Government of their jurisdiction, as he had done since his 
coming amongst them; to give them their due honour and 
respect to the utmost, which he could not do, but as he 
looked upon them with relation unto the State of Old Eng- 
land; by virtue of which power, they sat here as execution- 
ers of justice, unless he looked at them, and carried him- 
self towards them as they had respect unto that State (from 
whom what power they had was derived) else he could not 
give them their due honor and respect; for it could no way 
appear to be such, but as it was derived from that noble 
State of Old England; and therefore, however he had ac- 
cording to what they had demanded, for the clearing of 
any thing, been free, to answer unto them: So now if it 
was his life that they would now put him upon, he did as 
freely, and in the presence of them all, appeal to the State 
of Old England for his trial in that point, by virtue of which 
State only he conceived they sat there as ministers of jus- 



125 

ticc, and therefore niiglit not deny unto liim his just appeal, 
(understanding that the denial of an appeal must either pre- 
suppose a superiority in them that deny it, or an ecjuality 
at the least, with the State appealed unto;) unto which ihc 
Governor made answer, as also INIaster John Endicott, 
Deputy Governor,* and bade Gorton never dream or think 
o^ any such thing; for no appeal should be granted unto 
him. 

Now the ministers and magistrates, having weighed bet- 
ter our writings, our examinations in Court, answers to 
questions more privately, with anything spoken in the 
prison amongst ourselves, which daily ear was lent unto, or 
our carriage and demeanor in any respect; they had now 
summed up, and drawn all into four questions, which were 
novv to be answered, in case of life and death. 

The questions were these that here follow, not a word 
varying in any one of them: 

1. Whether the Fathers, who died before Christ was 
born of the Virgin Mary, were justified and saved only by 
the blood which he shed, and the death which he sutFered 
after his incarnation! 

2. Whether the only price of our redemption, were not 

1 Governor Endicott came to New-England in 162S, from Dorchester, 
England. He bore the otHces of Colonel, Assistant, Deputy Governor and 
Governor of Massachusetts, with honor to himself and fidelit}' to the colo- 
ny, for a great number of years. His zeal against Popery led him in 1635| 
to deface the cross in tiie colors of the military company in Salem. For this 
he was disabled from holding any public office for one year. Yet, when it 
is considered that in the very next year, after solemn consultation, only two 
of the Council, would consent to spread the King's colors even at the fort, 
on account of the cross in them, it may be questioned, whether Gov. Endi- 
cott's assent to Roger Williams's heretical opinions had not some influence 
in subjecting him to that censure. It is proper to state, that according to 
WintljTOp, Governor Endicott afterwards " gave place to the truth," in re- 
spect to Williams's opinions. He died in 16G5, aged 76. — S. 



126 

tiio death of Christ upon the cross, with the rest of his suf- 
ferings and obediences in the time of his life here, after he 
was born of the Virgin Mary! 

3. Who is that God whom he thinks we serve? 

4. What he means, when he saith, We worship the star 
of our god Remphan, Chion, Moloch? 

To these four questions the Court told Gorton he must 
answer speedily, upon life and death, and that under his 
hand-writing; he told them he was not willing to answer in 
anything, but as before he had done; they told him he must 
o-ive in speedy answer, under his hand-writing; he asked 
what time he must have for the answer of them; they told him 
a quarter of an hour; he told them he could answer them in 
so short a time, but he knew not whether it could give them 
satisfaction; for it was as much as for a man to describe 
Jesus Christ what he is, and the way of Anti-christ also, 
which might be done in few words, but not to be clear to 
every man; for a man may describe the whole world in these 
words; In the beginning God created heaven and earth, 
and the earth was without form and void and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon 
the face of the waters; all the whole work of creation is in 
this mass or heap; but to set out the glory and beauty that 
comes out of this, needs many phrases to express it; ever 
so it is in the description of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, 
born of the Virgin, it may be done in few words; but to 
lay out the nature, benefits and glory of it, no small speech 
or time can serve to express; and therefore desired in word 
(as before he had manifested his mind unto them) so he 
might give that present answer which God gave unto him 
in this point also; but they told him, it must be done in 
writing, and so commanded the jailor to convey him to 
another room, to despatch the same; but as he was going 
out from them, they called unto him, and told him he should 
have the liberty of half an hour's time to perform it in; 



127 

when he was come into another room, pen, ink, and paper 
being brought unto him; as he was going to write, word 
was sent from the Court, that if it was brought in, on the 
second day in the morning, it should suffice; for the Court 
considering of it, that many of them had far home, and it 
beino- the day of preparation for the Sabbath, (for it was 
w Saturday in the afternoon) and they thought not fit to 
sit any longer; so Gorton was conveyed again into the pris- 
on, to the rest of his friends; who continued cheerfully to- 
gether, all the Sabbath-day, as they had done before in the 
prison; only some part of those days, they brought us forth 
unto their congregations, to hear their sermons, of occido 
and occidio; which was meat not to be digested, but only by 
the heart or stomach of an ostrich: but upon the Monday 
morning, Gorton took pen and ink, and wrote in answer to 
every one of the four questions given unto him, as here fol- 
loweth: 

This is a true copy of answei'S, given to the Court of the. Mas- 
sachusetts, to the four queslioiis, which they required to be un- 
sivered in writing, upon life and death, in case of blasphemy, 
which ive were charged u^ith, and sentence so far passed, as 
to take away our lives by the sword, in case of not disclaim- 
ing of our religion, or erroneous opinions, as they were pleas- 
ed to call them; the answers are truly set down, verbatim. 
To the first question we answer affimatively, (only as- 
suminor the liberty of our explanation) namely: The Fath- 
ers who died before Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, 
were justified and saved, only by the blood which he shed 
and the death which he suffered,* in and after his Tncarna- 

* That ia this answer there is a word added to their question which was 
done of purpose (knowing how they lookcJ) to regulate them, if it were 
possible, as it was declared unto them, in the first reading of the answer, 
how they fell short in it, which they yielded unlo; they say the death which 
he suffered (after) hi.^ incarnation, the answer >;iilli, (in) and after his In- 



128 

tion, (that is on this wise; that the guilt and .stain of man 
is not, but Avith respect unto the Holy word of God, the 

carnation. For to speak of the sufleringa of Christ, after his incarnation, 
without respect unto that which was before, we may as well speak of his 
sulTerings before his incarnation, without respect to that which is after; for 
the cross of Christ is not, but with respect both to human nature and divine, 
and we cannot know the two natures in Christ, what they are distinctly in 
themselves, to give each its proper due, and what they are jointly united in 
one, no otherwise, but as they are considered in the very act of incarnation, 
in which appears the sufferer, and ihat which is suffered, the sufferer is the 
Son of God, made man; the Creator '—comes a creature; the thing suffered 
is to be made a curse; that is to be maue such a thing as is in itself by nature 
accursed, and so Christ was made a curse; the sufferings of Christ then, and 
the shedding of his blood (as he is known after the spirit) are properly in 
that one act of his incarnation, which is the proper act of the humiliation of 
the Son of God ; so that to speak of his sufferings after his incarnation, you 
may as well speak of his sufferings before his incarnation, for it is no suffer- 
ing of Christ, but with respect both to the one, and the other, and only in the 
act of incarnation they are made one; and to speak of the sufferings of 
Christ visibly in his human nature, in the days of Herod, to be the proper suf- 
ferings of the Son of God, any furlher, but as a true doctrine, as in all other 
holy writ, to teach us that that suffering is in the act of his incarnation, you 
may as well speak of sufferings of Christ invisibly before that act of his incar- 
nation, for the cross, of Christ is not but with respect both to divine and human 
nature; nor can it be said to be in time, no more than it may be said to 
be before all time; for the humiliation of the Son of God, admits not of 
any bounds or limits, for then were it not of infinite value; and if not of in- 
finite value and virtue, then not the humiliation of the Son of God, nor 
could it be said to be the blood of God, as the Apostle calls it; so that as 
he himself is not, but as the first and the last become one, even so his suf- 
ferings are not, but in that one act, of the curse and blessing being made 
one. This being premised, which was signified unto them by word of 
mouth, the answer runs clear, to understand Christ according to the Spirit; 
otherwise a man may carnalize the answer unto himself, as he knows 
Christ after the flesh, as the world doth the whole word of God, so also the 
seed of Abraham, is to be understood as Abraham himself is; Abraham is 
the father of Christ, as in the genealogy it appears; so saith David in the 
person of Christ, our father trusted in thee, meaning Abraham for one, and 



129 

disobedience whereof, by eating the forbidden fruit, breeds 
an infinite distance between Gon and bis own work, without 
the least defect or blame to be found or imputed unto the 
word of God, but the sole defect and blame is in the crea- 
ture, even in man himself, yet could he in no case be so 
miserable, but with respect unto the holy word; even so 
the justification and salvation of the Fathers, was by the 
holy word of God, not but with respect and relation unto 
the seed of Abraham, and the son of David, (conceived and 
born of the Virgin Mary) in whom they were justified and 
saved, and yet no virtue nor power arising out of any thing 
that is human; man therefore is a sinner of infinite guilt, 
with respect unto that word, which was before all time, and 
no fault to be found in the word at all; the word of God is 
a Saviour of infinite value, with respect unto the seed of the 
Virgin Mary, born, suffering, dying, and rising again in 
the fulness of time; and yet no virtue in that seed at all 
unto whom all the prophets bear witness, having an eye un- 
to him in all their holy writings, and the faith of the Fathers 
comprehending Christ, both in the one, and in the other 
respect, were justified and saved by him alone, his death 

Christ also is the flither of Abraham, therefore he is called the Everlasting 
Father; and Christ himself saith, Before Abraham was, I am; such also is 
the seed of Abraham, it produces and brings forth the Son of God, and the 
Son of God produceth and brings forth it; so it is with the Virgin, she is the 
mother that gives form and being to Jesus Christ; he also gives form and 
being unto her; therefore she calls him her Lord and Saviour; the woman 
brings forth the man, a Virgin conceives and bears a Son; tlie man brings 
forth the woman, made of a rib, out of his innocent side; so that the man 
is not without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord; 
these two being separated, the contract is broken, the divorce is made, and 
not being rightly united, the word is adulterated, we are in our sin. The 
mystery of this answer then lies in this, (which Pharisees understand not) 
if Christ be the Virgin .Mary's son, conceived in her womb, and born of 
her, how doth the Virgin l\Iary, in spirit, call him her Lord, God and Sa- 
viour? 

Q* 



130 

being real and actual unto faith, God having the same co- 
existence with the creature in all ages, though the creature 
cannot have the same with him in but time. 

To the second question, depending upon, or rather in- 
volved in the former, we answer, Man's rejection of the 
word of God, being his sin and separation from God, is the 
only forfeiture of himself, which could not be, but with re- 
spect unto the word of eternity; even so God's righteous- 
ness revealed by taking man into unity with himself, is the 
only price of our redemption, with respect unto the death 
of Christ upon the cross, with the rest of his sufferings and 
obedience, from the time of his incarnation, in the womb of 
the Virgin Mary, to his ascension into Heaven, vvithout 
which there is no price of our redemption. 

To the third question, who we think that God is, that 
men serve, that are not of the faith abovesaid: we answer, 
that all men's hearts are awed (by the true God) to bow in 
worship: therefore, when the Apostle looking upon the in- 
scription upon the altar at Athens, it is said, he beheld their 
devotion, (or as the word is) the God which they worship- 
ped, though ignorantly, yet it was he only that he declared 
unto them: So the Apostle James, Thou believest that there 
is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and 
tremble. 

The fourth question, therefore, is the explanation of the 
third, namely, what we mean by Moloch and the star of 
that god Remphan; to which we answer, that the Scripture 
alluded unto, makes difierence between those gainsayers of 
the Fathers which fell in the wilderness, and those of the 
true seed, that gave faithful testimony unto the Oracle of 
God; the rebels of the Sons of Levi, would not take up, nor 
bear the Ark of God, as their duty was, nor give the light 
and lustre of a star in the tabernacle, when it was pitched, 
(for the seven stars are the seven Angels:) But as they 
had the power of a worldly ruler, or Governor, to defend 



131 

them in their work, and to subdue all that were not of their 
mind under them, therefore they took up the tabernacle of 
Moloch, or bore the booth of the King, and gave the light 
of Remphan, (alluding unto Raphal, who in David's days 
had four sons, were mighty giants, warring only by the 
strength of the arm of flesh) so that they would give testi- 
mony unto the holy word of God; but as they had a king 
set over them, besides Moses to defend them, when as a 
greater than Moses was there. And in this they turned 
back in their hearts unto Egypt, looking unto the way of 
Pharoah, that would subdue all that were not of his own 
way, and be a defence unto his wise men, in whatever they 
wrought; but the faithful seed of Abraham had the taber- 
nacle of witness, or witnessed unto the tabernacle, even in 
the wilderness, where there was no wordly Governor to de- 
fend them, but all came out against them, Ammon and Am- 
alek, Balak, Ogg, and Sihon, and the rest; in the which 
condition Stephen perceived himself, when he witnessed un- 
to the word of truth, in alleging that place of the prophet. 

SAMUEL GORTON. 

Upon the finishing of these answers, on the Monday morn- 
in"-, the Court sent for S. Gorton to come before them; and 
Avhen he was come, the Governor asked him, whether he 
had brought in his answer to the questions propounded un- 
to him (at their last sitting) in writing: he answered, he had 
brought them; then the Governor asked him, whether he 
had put his hand unto them: he answered he had not, not 
thinking it would be required, else he had done it: The 
Governor called for pen and ink, and caused him to put his 
hand unto them, and then demanded them of him. Gorton 
desired he might have liberty to read them first in the Court, 
that he might pronounce the phrases and words according 
to the true meaning and intent; having had experience of 
wrong done, in reading (in way of pronunciation of things 
not plainly) before, to the giving of true intelligence to the 



132 

hearers. When the answers were read in the audience of 
the Court, the Court paused, and no man said anything un- 
to them, only bade Gorton withdraw, which being done, 
they had some consultation among themselves, and shortly 
after called for Gorton to be brought in again: Master Sal- 
tingstone* found fault, that it was written in the answer, 
what is the star of (that) god Remphan, whereas it was in 
the writing, (your god Remphan,) Gorton answered, the 
phrase was only changed for modesty; for indeed, saith he, 
it is the phrase of the Apostle, Your god Remphan; and so 
it rested, to clear that scruple. The Governor told Gorton, 
that they were one with him, in those answers; for they 
held as he did; Gorton answered, he was very glad of it, 
for he loved not differences and divisions amongst men. The 
Governor then asked him whether he vvould retract the 
writing that was formerly written unto them; Gorton an- 
swered, that nothing was written before, but would suit and 
agree with these answers; so that if there was cause to re- 
tract one, there was cause to retract all; the Governor said 
no: these answers they could agree with him in, but not in 
the former writing. Whereupon Master Dudley stood up, 
seeming to be much moved, and said he never would con- 
sent to it whilst he lived, that they were one with him in 
those answers; the Governor then asked Gorton, what faith 
was: to which he answered, that was nothing that concerned 
what they had formerly written, and that he and the rest 
had only undertaken to answer to anything that was in their 
writing; the Governor told him he was bound, and ought to 
be ready to give an answer to any that should ask him a 
question of the hope that is in him. Gorton made answer, 

' So in both editions. Trobably Richard Saltonstall, then one of the As- 
sistants, is here alluded to. He came to New-England in 1630. He held 
the ofFice of Assistant, a number of years. In 1 680 he returned to England 
where he died in 1694, aged 84 years. — S. 



133 

that the definition which the Apostle gives offailh, was suf- 
ficient, as he tliought, to give any man satisfaction; he ask- 
ed him what that was: he told him it was this, that faith is 
the hypostasis or substance of things that are hoped for, 
and the evidence (or argument demonstrative) of things 
that are not seen, nor demonstrated at all. The Gover- 
nor told him that was true, but he could say more of faith 
than so; Gorton told him, it gave him satisfaction, and 
being another point than they had had to deal about, since 
their coming amongst them, and being no question produc- 
ed from former writings, desired to be spared from any fur- 
ther answer than the plain words of the Apostle; where- 
upon Master Broadstreet ' made answer, that he tliought it 
was not fit to put him upon any new questions, unless he 
was free to speak unto them: and so they dismissed him 
from the Court to the prison again. 

Shortly after this, there was a day appointed, wherein 
we were to receive our sentence from the Court, which was 
to be given in the afternoon; and in the forenoon. Master 
Cotton preached, having gathered up the minds of the peo- 
ple, in what they had observed, and perceiving the people 
took notice, that in what we dissented from them, was out 
of tenderness of conscience, and were ready to render a 
reason and ground for what we held and practised, and di- 
vers such like things; to which he answered, that if vve had 
done it out of ignorance, then there had been hopes of re- 
gaining us; but if out of tenderness of conscience, and able 
to render reason for what we did, (and other things of like 
nature) then were we ripened for death, urging them to 
agree together, and consent in one thing; that so it might 



1 Simoa Bradstreet, the person here alluded to, was at that time one of 
the Assistants. He was born in March, 1603— came to this country in 
1630, and died at Salem, in 1697. IIo held the offices of Assistant, Sec- 
retary of the colony, Deputy Governor, and Governor. — S. 



134 



be, else would not the Angels carry their souls to Heaven; 
for he was then speaking of the office of the Angels in that 
point. And when by all their examinations in Court, inter- 
rogatories put upon us in prison, and public preaching, they 
could find nothing against us for the transgressing of any of 
their laws, they then proceeded to cast a lot for our lives, 
putting it to the major vote of the Court, whether we should 
live or die; which was so ordered by the Providence of 
God, that the number of two votes carried it on our side; 
and whereas both by law, equity, and act of Providence, 
they ought to have set us forthwith at liberty; yet notwith- 
standing, they proceeded further to censure, namely, con- 
fined us to several towns, and to wear bolts and irons, and 
to work for our livings, though it was in the extremity of 
winter, and not to speak of any of those things, which they 
had dealt with us about, and all this during the pleasure of 
the Court, and that upon pain of death. 

Here followeth a true copy of the Censure and of the 
Charge^ as it was given unto us in writing by the Court; be- 
ing extant and here set down, verbatim, as it was given to 
Samuel Gorton, the rest being the same, but only the change 
of the names. 

FOR SAMUEL GORTON. 

It is ordered that Samuel Gorton shall be confined to 
Charlestown, there to be set on work, and to wear such bolts 
or irons, as may hinder his escape, and so to continue dur- 
ing the pleasure of the Court; provided, that if he shall 
break his said confinement, or shall in the meantime either 
by speech or writing, publish, declare, or maintain, any of 
the blasphemous or abominable heresies, wherewith he hath 
been charged by the General Court, contained in either of 
the two* Books sent unto us by him or by Randall Holden; 

* Whereas they name two books written unto them, there was another 



135 

©r shall reproach or reprove the Churches of our LordJesus 
Christ in these United Colonies, or the civil government, 
or the publick ordinances of God therein, (unless it be by 
answer to some question propounded to him, or conference 
with any elder, or with any other licensed to speak with 
him privately, under the hand of one of the Assistants) that 
immediately upon accusation of any such writing or speech, 
he shall by such Assistant, to whom such accusation shall 
be brought, be committed to prison, till the next Court of 
Assistants, then and there to be tried by a Jury, whether 
he hath so spoken or written; and upon his conviction there- 
of, shall be condemned to death, and executed. 
Per. Cur. 

INCREASE NOVVELL, Secret. 
Dated the 3d of the 9th mo. 1643. 

A COPY OF THE CHARGE. 

Samuel Gorton, being convict as a blasphemous enemy 
to the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and all his 
holy ordinances, and also to all civil authority among the 
people of God, and particularly in this jurisdiction, as ap- 
peareth by writings and speeches.' 

writing - sent unto them by us, but it was no ground of any of their proceed- 
ings against us, therefore we thought it not fit to bring it into this Treatise, 
for they had concluded upon what they would do nnto us, and were gone 
out for execution, before that writing came unto them ; for it only met the sol- 
diers on the way towards us, with commission to put us to the sword; we 
shall desire to publish it, by itself, for we are willing to ha\e it known, and 
we made answer to any thing in it, they could seem to object, when we 
were amongst them. The Massachusetts promised the people that however 
they might not hear our writings read then among them, yet they should see 
them shortly in print, but they put us to the labour and cost of it, else they 
cannot be content to have them lie buried, but render them and their deal- 
ings with us, in all places where they come, to be other things, than indeed 
they are. 
'This "other writing" as it is called, may be found in Appendix No. 18 — S. 

'The charge and censure passed on Richard Carder, is still extant, and in 



136 

This charge being laid upon us at the bar, before we heard 
of the censure, (though they came, as above, in writing to 
us, the Governor asked us, whether we bowed under it, 
and whether we would retract; we answered and told them 
(as in the presence of God) that the charge neither bowed 
nor touched us at all; for we were free, and far from being 
guilty of any such things; and for our retraction, we told 
them, wc came not there to deny our Religion, in any point 
of it, but to testify and bear witness unto it; then did they 
read our censure for our confinement, as is above said; and 
when the bolts and chains were made ready, they put them 
upon us, in the prison at Boston, that so we might travel in 
them to the several Towns to which we were confined, some 
of us having fifteen miles, and some thirty to go from Boston, 
only wc were to stay till Master Cotton, his Lecture day, and 
then were all brought to the congregation, in that our iron 
furniture for the credit of the sanctuary, which had set the 
sword on work to such good purpose; and after that were, 
with all speed, sent away, yea, some of us among the peo- 
ple that went from the Lecture, that so we might be a spec- 
tacle unto them. ' 



the possession of the R. I. Historical Society.— " This charge," says the 
author of Sagitarius' Letters, " brings to our memory, a transaction that 
happened several years ago, in the Island of Jamaica. A Scotch officer, 
with several others of his corps, engaged in a billiard match with some 
Jews. The children of Israel, it seems, were much too expert at that game, 
for the Caledonian ana his companions. The latter, after having lost some 
money, mustered their whole joint stock, and staked it against the sons 
of circumcision; the game was played; the Scot lost; but he swept the 
stakes into his hat, drew his sword, and, protected by his friends, retired, 
calling out, ' D — n yere sauls, ye scoundrels, yere a' enemies to the Lord 
Jesus Christ." — S. 

' In Appendix, No. 19, 1 have copied Gov. Winthrop's acconnt of the pro- 
ceedings of Massachusetts towards Gorton and his company. 

It would seem from Gorton's statement, that all theShawomet purchas- 
ers, except Shotton, were taken by Capt. Cooke and carried by him to Bos- 



137 

In whicli condition we continued ;i whole winter season: 
in which time tlieir Ministers stirred up the people, in their 
public sermons, to famish us to death, out of that place of 



ton. Wiuthiop, as copied in Appendix, No. 19, saysnine werebioiiglit in by 
Cooke. Jle afterwards says, seven were sentenced to be confined to diferent 
towns. Three otlier persons were taken at tiie bouse with the seven, two 
of whom were dismissed on a small ransom, and the third freely. Neither of 
these had signed the letters. A fourth was sentenced to remain at Water- 
town during the pleasure of the Court. Threo escaped from the house, two 
of whom being sent for, came in, one of whom was discharged freely; be- 
cause his hand was not to the letters. The other was sent home, on his own 
bond to appear at the next Court. 

All the purchasers of Shawomet signed the first letter, those therefore who 
were discharged because they had not signed "the letters," were not of the 
Shawomet purchasers. 

The seven who were confined to the several towns were Gorton, Wickes, 
llolden, Totter, Carder, Weston and Warner. Waddle was enjoined to 
remain at Watertown. The three who escaped from the house, were Wa- 
terman, Power and Greene. Power came in and denied that he set his 
hand to the letters, and was dismissed; Waterman became bound to appear 
at the next Court, and Greene was the one who escaped entirely. [See in 
Appendix, No. 6. the warrant issued against Waterman, Power, and Greene 
and his son. Da!ed, October 20, 1643, after the return of Captain Cooke 
and his company, which was on the 13th of October.] 

The following tradition relative to the escape of Waterman, is preserved 
by his descendants, and was kindly handed me by his great-grandson, in 
answer to my inquiry of him for historical information. I give his words — 
" Amongst other matters, that which made the deepest impression on my 
feelings was, that when Massachusetts sent for Samuel Gorton and others, 
my great-grandllither, Richard Waterman, was among the proscribed; but he 
avoided them m this way. When the conspirators were approaching his hab- 
itation, my great-grandmother, suspecting their design, met them at the door 
with a pan of milk, and offered it to them to drink, and thus detained them 
until my great-grandfather got out of the back window and ran into the 
woods, where he remained secreted until those fanatical hell-hounds were far 
away. To this day I never pass one of their meetinghouses, without excited 
feelings, and many times I have detected myself stripping up my sleeves, to 
see if I could not find the marks of liandcufls on my wrists." — S. 
H 



138 

the prophet Zephany, ii. 10. 11. This shall they have for 
their pride, because they have reproached and magnified 
themselves against the people of the Lord of Hosts; the 
Lord will be terrible unto them, for he will famish all the 
gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one 
from his place, even all the isles of the heathen. Samuel 
Gorton having intelligence from Boston to Charlestown, to 
which he was confined, that Master Cotton preached from 
that text in the prophecy Zephany, and how he applied the 
doctrine from it, to have all necessaries withheld from him, 
telling some eminent members of the Church, that if they 
either went unto us, to visit us, or sent unto us, to minister 
to our wants, the curse of God would abide both on them 
and their posterity, for so doing; the said Gorton hearing 
of these things, wrote a letter to the ruling Elder in Charles- 
town,* a copy whereof (verbatim) here followeth, which 
was consulted upon, by the Ministers immediately, togeth- 
er with the Governor, as intelligence was brought unto him, 
but never answer given unto it, neither by word nor writing. 

Charlestown, January the 12, 1643. 
Mr. Greene ' — Forasmuch as we know that the ruler of the 
congregation hath power to give utterance, and to authorize 
speech, unto edification, and that none ought to hinder 
■wherever or whomsoever he permits or giveth license unto, 
and inasmuch as we also profess, that there is one thing that 
is needful, and whosoever shall make choice of that, it shall 
never be taken away from him, which is to hear the words of 
Christ. Neither are we ignorant, that none are truly sen- 

* We had liberty to speak or write to Elders, or such as the Magistrates 
licensed to .^peak with us, in way of question whom they thought were fit- 
e3t to ensnare us, so that this writing is but a question; only it hath a large 
preface. 

' John Greene \vas ruling elder of the Charlestown Church. He came 
to New-EngU-nd in 1632, and died, April 22, 16^8.-8. 



131) 

sible, or know the necessity, use and benefit of hearing (he 
word of Christ, but only such as are sensible, and see their 
necessity (yea, and that in the same subject) of speaking 
and delivering the words of Christ, for the heart of every 
saint is equally balanced with these two; the same necessi- 
ty he finds to speak, he also finds to hear; the same neces- 
sity he finds to hear, he finds to speak also the word of God ; 
for faith is in hearing, and hearing is in speaking the word 
of God. If we deny either of these unto a Christian, we 
deny him the power of faith, which doth consist in them 
both; nay, if he want a tongue to speak, or an ear to hear, 
(and thfit equally, the one as the other) we deny him to be 
complete in Christ; who, as he had an ear open to the voice 
of the Father in all things, so had he a tongue to divulge 
and declare them unto the world; evrn so with the heart 
man believes unto righteousness, that is, gives credit to that 
which he hears, to be in another, and with the mouth, con- 
fession is made unto salvation, that is, preacheth or profess- 
eth that which God hath made him to be by faith; therefore 
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and be- 
lieve in thine heart that God raised him up from the dead, 
thou shalt be saved. Nor am I ignorant of the minds of the 
people, (amongst whom 1 now sojourn, and am a stranger 
as all my fathers have been,) how earnest they are I should 
get my bread with servile work, or else to have hunger and 
famine to cleave unto my bonds, which they profess them- 
selves to be very clearly instructed in, though in times past 
it hath been thought sufficient work for a man to be exercis- 
ed in (at one time) to lie in fetters and irons amongst stran- 
gers, though wife and children were not deprived of all nec- 
essaries at home. Nor do I doubt, but they may find & 
time to alter their judgment, (it may be before they are 
aware) especially if the bridegroom be at the door; and it is 
well known, that I have not been accustomed to any servile 
work in any part of my life, till now, of late, in New-England, 



140 



where through the kindness of my couutrynien, in taking 
from my family the things of this life, (which God had be- 
stowed on us) I have been necessitated thereunto, which I 
am so upbraided with in this place. 

But it is not grievous unto me, whilst they cannot but see 
in it (if God have not blinded their eyes) the vanity of those 
idle shepherds of the Church of Ronie,* who cannot speak 
unto the people, but in a way of so much study and ease; 
nor had I ever desire to be set up in the world through 
gatherings and contributions of the people: Therefore have 
these hands ministered to my necessities. But however I 
have been exercised about the bread that perisheth, yet 
hath it not been but with respect unto that which endureth 
unto everlasting life, which I have endeavored to break, 
and faithfully to impart unto my wife, children and servants, 
and to any that had an ear open to listen unto that whole- 
some word of life, which hath made all other travels or los- 
ses whatever, to be light and easy unto me, (as at this day) 
which I profess to be the only errand I have to do in this 
world; and however we do preach the Gospel, yet have we 
nothing to rejoice in, or to glory and praise ourselves for, 
to lift up ourselves above our brethren; for necessity is laid 
upon me; that is, I am in vvant and stand in need of all 
things, and wo is me if I preach not the Gospel; that is, if 
I receive not this grace from Christ as well as any other; 
for the same necessity I have of any other grace, I have this 
grace also: For of his fulness we all receive, and grace for 
grace, for the graces of God are a bundle of life in Christ 
Jesus ; so as, that if I reject or neglect, or put off any one of 
them to another, as no privilege or prerogative of mine, I do 
the like to all: for his seamless coat may not be divided, but 
all goeth by lot or portion the same way: And in like manner 
I am destitute of this, I am destitute of all other grace that 
proceeds from him; for if I preach the Gospel willingly, I 

* Wheresoever the doctrine, spirit and power of it doth appear. 



141 

have a reward, that is, if I do it out of any ability, skill or 
will of my own, gotten and acquired by any pains or in- 
dustry, as men attain to arts and trades, wherein they are to 
be preferred before and above others, then I have a reward; 
that is, something is to be attributed and contributed to me 
for the same, then go I about to deprive my Lord of his 
right, shewing myself an unfaithful steward, for where an 
hundred is due to him, I bid write fifty, that I may take the 
rest myself, to live upon; for even as 1 propound my own 
deserts, demerits and eminency unto a people, so do I pro- 
pound the undeserving estate and condition of my Lord; 
proclaiming his baseness whilst I set forth my pains and 
good will in so doing; but if I do it against my will, that is, 
if it be contrary to the mind and will of all men, to undergo 
the cross of Christ, to preach the Gospel, in necessities, re- 
proaches, hard labors and persecutions^ then is the dispen- 
sation committed unto me; that is, the right of all adminis- 
tration, (wrapped up in that fountain of dispensing the Gos- 
pel) doth of right solely belong unto him, and not unto me in 
any case; yea, it is the will and power of another, and not 
my own, unto whom the praise and glory of right belongeth 
and wholly appertaineth, and not unto the will, ability or 
skill of any man whatsoever: And hence it is, that the cross 
is easy unto us, because we know that he, as truly, and to- 
tally taketh our reproaches and hardships upon himself, 
which are only due unto us, as he committeth the dispen- 
sation of his grace and glory unto us that is none of ours, 
but only due and belongs unto himself; so that we remem- 
ber him that sulTered such gain-sayings of sinners, lest 
we should be weary, and faint in our mind, yea, further, 
there is a necessity of preaching the Gospel upon every 
soul; for as there is not any that can believe for another 
unto righteousness, the party being destitute of that grace 
himself, so there is not any that can preach or confess for an- 
other unto salvation, the party being destitute himself of that 



142 

o-racc of confession or preaching. Indeed the saints commu- 
nicate in these graces one with another, as all of them being 
heirs and inheritors of the same grace in Christ; but one can- 
not perform any office for another, as for such as are desti- 
tute of the same grace and office themselves, for that were, in- 
stead of a girdle, a rent. Therefore the preaching of the 
Gospel is the discovering of what men are in Christ Jesus, 
and not only what tliey may or shall be, also what men are 
under the wrath of God that abides upon them, being out of 
Christ, and not only what they shall be ; so that every Chris- 
tian having received this (as an ingrafted word, growing up 
together with it) that is, that I may be mutually edified and 
comforted by the communication of your faith and mine, he 
grows up in this also, namely, that I may be mutually edi- 
fied and comforted by the communication of your preaching 
and mine ; for in the day of the Lord, which is the day of sal- 
vation, and behold now the accepted time, behold now the 
day of salvation, wherein we give no offence, or lay not any 
stumbling block before our brethren; wevillify not that sac- 
rifice once offered up for ail. That our ministry may not 
be reprehended, or that our ministry be not blemished, for 
so the word is, (momos) that is, we can acknowledge no sac- 
rifice, but only that which is without either superfluity or 
defect; and in that day, the feeblest in Jerusalem is as Da- 
vid, a king, a leader, a valiant warrior, a sweet singer in 
Israel; and the house of David, as God, or as the mightiest, 
(for the word is plural) yea, as the angel of the Lord be- 
fore them, every one is as the angel or messenger of the 
Lord, before the rest of the congregation, or as the angel 
of the Lord before (him) as the word will also bear, that is 
to say, as the messenger of the Lord, like unto his servant 
John, to prepare or make ready his way before him, for the 
messenger of the Lord, and he only, knows how to bring 
down the high mountain, and how to lift up the lowest 
valley, and that only i.s a highway for the royalty of our 



113 

King to pass upon in the wilderness. And this is a glory that 
the world cannot receive, neither can it give it: and it is our 
rejoicing that we borrow nothing from the world, nor stand 
in need of anything it hath, to make the Gospel of God glo- 
rious; for it were better for us to die, than that any man 
should make our rejoicing, vain or empty. For it were not 
full in Christ, if we borrowed anything of the world, which 
were death to us to think of; what is our rejoicing then or 
our reward, when as the whole world affordeth nothing at 
all unto us? Verily this, that when we preach the Gospel, 
we make it free, which could not be, if it laid claim to any- 
thingthe world hath in the pul)lication of itself; for then by 
the laws of relations, the world might lay claim unto, and 
challenge something from (it) which were to bring the Gos- 
pel into bondage. liut as the Lord Jesus wrought that great 
work of reconciliation Ireely, so as the world could challenge 
nothing of it at his hands at all; so is that word of recon- 
ciliation, to whomsoever it is cumrnilted, published freely, 
so as the world can challenge nothing of them at all; so 
that the servant cf the Lord is free from all men, though he 
makes himself servant unto all, that he might gain the 
more. Thence it is that he abuseth not his authority in the 
Gdspel, but keeps his power unspotted, when the v.'orldcan 
require nothing at his hands; hereby shewing also the 
transcedancy of that kingdom, wherein his authority is ex- 
ercised, beyond the kingdoms of this world, which must bor- 
row one of another, else cannot any be glorious in the height 
of glory concerning the things of this life; therefore had 
Solomon himself gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks 
brought from other nations to augment his glory. But he 
that is greater than Solomon, beautifieth himself with none 
of the things of this life, though he had right to them all; 
that so he might make it manifest that his kingdom is not of 
this world, therefore gives charge unto his disciples, that as 
they had frcelv reccivod, so thev should frrrly give: for 



144 

by how much we enjoin people to contribute unto us for 
preaching the Gospel, by so much we proclaim, that we 
have given unto God for what we have received of him, and 
teach others so to do, namely, to bring some preparations, 
operations, or fitness to receive his grace, which is as far 
from man, to attain unto, as it was to prepare and fit him- 
self for his creation at the first; so tliat the benevolence of 
the saints in communicating of the things of this life, is no 
part of the glory or beautifying of the house of God, for 
then a wicked man might add somewhat thereunto; nor 
shall the glory in the least measure be diminished, when 
these things shall have an end. 

But it is a declaration of their vilifications of the things of 
this present life, as things of no account or reckoning, when 
they come into competition with the well being of the saints; 
and as these things are consumed and turned into ashes, up- 
on that golden altar, so doth there ascend up a perfumatory 
sacrifice of sweet savor unto the Lord, for according to our 
villification of the things of this life, so is our valuation of the 
Lord Jesus, who is either all or none at all in our estima- 
tion and account, and if he be all, then he that gethereth 
much of the things according unto man, hath nothing over 
or above him that hath the least, and he that gathereth little, 
hath no lack, or falls short of him that hath the most, for 
the one and the other consume them in the act of the pres- 
ent supply of their necessity, knowing that if they keep them, 
in making any account or reckoning of them, for the time 
to come, they presently putrify and corrupt. Learn this 
parable therefore, that there is that in the heavenly manna 
that the rebels may eat in the wilderness and die eternally, 
as well as that which whosoever eateth shall never die, but 
live forever, yea, there is a seed to be sown in giving away 
to another, as well as food to receive for the nourishing of 
ourselves; and he that sows spareingly in that shall reap 
spareingly, yea, he that knows not how to minister carnal 



145 

things, cannot have spiritual things ministered unto him, 
no more than a man can keep his sin , and have the righteous- 
ness of Christ also. These only therefore that in giving 
and receiving, know how to perform all in the same act, as 
the woman in casting her two mites into the Treasury; and 
out of deep poverty can see the abounding of the riches of 
liberality. Such can perform an acceptable service to the 
Lord; but such as only exercise themselves in piece-meal- 
ing of the things of God and the things of man, to serve at 
times and turns for advantage, and reserve the rest, this is 
as the cutting off of a dog's head, or the offering of swine's 
blood in the house of God, however else where they may 
be done without any such abomination, the saints therefore 
depend not upon, neither desire the world's benevolence, 
knowing well what their mercies are in the winding up, nor 
can they expect from them ought else, but bonds, imprison- 
ments and spoiling of their goods, (wliich through the secret 
supplies their master makes unto them) they suffer joyfully 
not looking for so much as ashoe-lachet from the king of Sod- 
om to enrich themselves with, all knowing that the blessings 
of the Lord upon their endeavours shall yield sufficient to 
convey them through the valley of Baca; which endeavours, 
God directeth unto times and seasons to use according to 
strength and constitution without any to lay task upon them, 
even as he teacheth the husbandman when to throw in the 
cummin and the fitches, though they know (notwithstanding) 
what it is to have power, not to work and to lead about a 
wife, that is a sister, as well as others. But I am longer 
in my introduction than I did intend; my question in short 
is this, namely, whether I may have liberty to speak and 
express the word of the Lord in the public congregation 
freely without interruption, either on the Lord's day or the 
ordinary Lecture, now whilst I am kept from my family and 
friends, with whom I have been formerly exercised; for see- 
ing our days as a shadow decline, and we are presently 



M6 

withered as graas, when in a moment we go hence and ais 
no more. We are earnest therefore to express the word of 
life that fadeth not nor waxeth old as doth a garment, that 
God's memorial may abide with our posterity, when we are 
gone the way of all the earth, that you shall not need to fear 
my touching upon any of those things, which it seems, are 
to lie sealed as in the grave for the present, I shall tell 
you what Scripture urgeth my heart for the present to 
impart, if God lead not into another, before the opportunity 
be attained; for we cannot treasure up, to bring forth at our 
pleasure unto profit; no more than we can fetch down at our 
pleasure for our supply, but only as our God performeth, 
both the one and the other; for we depend not upon Baal 
Oboth, as Saul did, but upon the Lord Jehovah, as David 
did. The Scripture intended is the sounding of the fifth 
trumpet, Rev. ix. out of which I desire (as God shall assist) 
to open and declare these points following: 

1. What the sound of the trumpet is. 2. W^ho the An- 
gel is. 3. Why the fifth. 

1. What the star is that falls from heaven to the earth. 
2. What the fall of it is. 3. How it falls from heaven unto 
the earth. 

1. What tiie key of the bottomless pit is. 2. To whom it 
is given. 3. The manner how it is given. 4. How the pit 
is opened. 5. How it can be said to be bottomless, seeing 
nothing can be without banks and bottom, but the Lord 
himself. 

1. What the smoke of the bottomless pit is. 2. The 
cause and manner of its rise, even as the smoke of a great 
furnace. 

1. What the sun and the air are. 2. How they are 
darkened by the smoke of the pit. 

1. What those locusts are, that come out of the smoke. 
2, The nature of their power, as the scorpions of the earth 
have power. 3. How this power is given unto them, see- 
ing that all power is of God. 



147 

1. What the injunctions are, that are laid upon the lo- 
custs. 2. The rise of those injunctions. 3. The exercis-o 
of them. 4. The extent of them. 

1. What the nature and property of the locusts are, de- 
clared by the several forms ascribed unto them, furniture, 
ornaments, and their carriage in them. 

What their king is, as he is described. I . By his office as- 
signed. 2. By his title given unto him. 3. How he is a 
kin<i, seeing the locusts are to have no kinj; over them. 

1. What that woe is, that is said to be past, jind how it 
can be said to be past, seeing there is ever woe to the 
wicked. 2. What the two woes are, which are to come; 
and how they can be said to come hereafter, seeing the 
wrath of God abides upon him already that believes not? 

Thus you have my question, both with its introduction and 
sequel; and I attend your answer, which 1 hope will not 
only be speedy in respect of time, but specious also in re- 
gard of matter, to the satisfying and fulfilling my desires. 
It e r me 

SAMUEL GORTON. 

Now during the time of our confinement, being dispersed 
abroad into several towns in the country, the people came 
to be informed of the truth of proceedings, whereupon they 
were much unsatisfied with what they had done against us; 
which being perceived, they called a General Court, and 
without any appearance or questioning any of us, concluded 
upon our release; sending us a writing; of it, togethei' with a 
further banishment, not only out of all their own jurisdic- 
tions, but also that we should not come in nor near Provi- 
dence, nor our own plantations at Shawomet, with other 
parts thereto adjoining; out of all which places, we were to 
depart within the space of fourteen days, and that upon 
pain of death; which were places out of all their jurisdic- 
tions, as Master John Endicott (at that time Deputy Gov- 
ernor"^ confessed, standing up in public Court, and profess- 



148 



ed that God had stirred them up to go out of their own ju- 
risdictions, to fetch us from our own places unto them. 

Here followeth a true copy of our release and banish- 
ment, sent to us from the General Court, set down, verba- 
tim; and is extant, under their hands: ' 
^3f a General Court, at Boston, the Ith of the first month, 1643 

or 1644. 

It is ordered that Samuel Gorton and the rest of that 
company who now stand confined, shall be set at liberty; 
provided that if they or any of them, shall after fourteen 
days after such enlargement, come within any part of our 
jurisdiction, either in the Massachusetts, or in, or near 
Providence, or any of the lands of Pomham or Socconoii- 
oco,* or elsewhere within our jurisdiction, then such per- 
son or persons shall be apprehended wheresoever they may 
be taken, and shall suffer death by course of law; provided 
also, that during all their continuance in our bounds inhab- 
iting for the said time of fourteen days, they shall be still 
bound to the rest of the articles of their former confinement, 
upon the penalty therein expressed. 
Per Cur. 

INCREASE NO WELL, Secret. 

When this order of the Court was presented to Samuel 
Gorton by the Constable of Charlestown, bringing a smith 
with him, to file off his bolts, he told the Constable, he was 
not willing to part with his irons on these terms, but ex- 
pected other news, in fairer terms of release, than were 
therein expressed; desiring him to goto Master Nowell, 
who lived in that town, and declare so much unto him. In 
short time, the Constable returned, bringing divers of the 

* These were their tv/o Indian subjects, lately enticed to renounce their 
own Prince; thereby to find a way to subject us unto their own wills, or else 
to execute death upon us. 

' And is still extant, in the possession of JMr. Barber j of Newport. — S. 



119 

chief men in the town with him, iiud cunnnandcd ihc dmilh 
to fall to work to file oil" his bolls, who did accordingly, and 
so took them from him, leaving the said Gorton either to 
walk abroad, on such conditions, or else to stay at his peril. 
JVow two or three days after our release, some of us be- 
ing returned to Boston, desiring to stay lor the rest of our 
friends, that we might return togetlier, accompanying each 
other in our journey, the people showing themselves joyful 
to see us at liberty, and entertaining us kindly into their 
houses; which the Governor perceiving, presently sent out 
his warrant, with strict charge to depart from the town 
within the space of two hours, (it being about ten of the 
clock in the forenoon when the warrant came unto us) oth- 
erwise further penalty should be laid upon us. 

This is a true copy of the Governor's JVarrant, extant still, 
under his hand, loordfor word. 

To THE MaRSHAI., or HIS DepUTV. 

I am informed that Samuel Gorton and his company are 
now abiding in the town, and go to divers houses, giving 
otfence thereby, and cause of suspicion, of attempting to se- 
duce some of our people; you are therefore to command 
them to depart out of the town, before noon this day, upon 
pain of being apprehended and further proceeded with, ac- 
cording to their deservings. 

JOHN WINTHROP, Governor. 

(i.) 10, '43. 

Now, although by the General Court, we had fourteen 
days allowed unto us, to inhabit within their jurisdictions, 
not limited to any place, nor excluded from any place for 
the space of so long time; yet nothwithstanding, upon no- 
tice given unto us by this warrant, we presently departed 
the town,* though upon a sudden, when we were unprovided 

*As we passed along the way, a matter of three or four miles from Eos- 
ton, we came to some Indian wigwams, the Sachem being the prime i?a- 



150 

for victuals and other provisions for our journey, and being 
there was no place inhabited by the English near the place 
where our wives and children were scattered, out of which 
they had not expelled us, but only a little island called 
Rhode-Island, situate in the Narragansett Bay, upon which 
we arrived within the time limited unto us; but the night be- 
fore we came to Rhode-Island, we lodged at Shawomet in 
our own houses there, and considering of the act of their 
Court in our expelling and banishment out of those parts, 
we observed that they had not expressed our land at Shaw- 
omet, but only named the lands of Pomham and Sacconon- 
oco, (the Indians whom they claimed as subjects) we thought 
good therefore to write unto them for a further explanation 
of the Court's act, that so we might understand their true in- 
tent, being very unwilling to discover their dealings towards 
us in seeking redress, if we could but see a way, that 
through our hard labors, our wives and little ones might 
find a way to subsist. 

Here followeth a true copy of the letter sent unto the 
Governor of the Massachusetts, verbatim, as it is still ex- 
tant, under the hands of the witnesses, which were taken, 
lest they should put us off, and not make answer to our 
letter: 

Shawomet, March the 26, 1644. 

The order of your Court last held, made concerning us, 
being dark and obscure, which beseems not a matter of that 
concernment, which you have now entered upon, and made 
some short progress therein, the issues whereof are pres- 

chem that lives near them, and familiar among them. We came into his 
wigwam, accidentally, and he having taken notice of us amongst them, how 
we had been dealt with, as soon as we came in, called some of us by our 
names, his name being Cutshamekin, we asked him whether Captain Cooke 
was a good Captain: he answered, "I cannot tell, but Indians account of 
those as good Captains, when a few dare stand out against many." 



151 

sino- on unto perfection, whose anival is waited for, with 
that hope that never makes ashamed; wc may not therefore 
forbear, to require an explanation of what you intend, by 
the hinds of Pomham and Saccononoco, for we know none 
they have, or ever had, within your jurisdiction; if you 
should therefore, so far forget yourself, as to intend thereby 
our land lawfully bought, and now in our possession, and 
inhabited by us, called Shawomet, together with other parts 
near adjoining, give us your minds and meaning, in plain 
terms, under your hands. And whereas you conclude, for 
such our lawful abode and residence, to prosecute against 
us, by course of law, unto death; we resolve upon your an- 
swer, with all expedition, to wage law with you, and try to 
the uttermost, what right or interest you can show to lay 
claim, either to our lands or our lives; and shall take it as 
your own act, urging us and constraining us thereunto, to 
look after our right, in the havocks and spoils, you have 
already made nnioiig us, which otherwise God hath taught 
us, to suffer joyfully the robbing and spoiling of our goods, 
if you did not necessitate us to look after recompence from 
you. We expect your answer by this bearer, and in case 
you return it not speedily, we conclude your order of Court 
to intend no such thing, as to drive us from our lawful posses- 
sions, as above said; but that you used such terms as scare- 
crows, imagining you had children to deal with, or as a star- 
ting hole to evade part of that danger that may ensue ; nor 
can you put us off for answer, till the Court sit again, be- 
ing a general act, and you but one, now to answer, for 
we know you may better open unto us the intent of the 
Court for our satisfaction, than you could expel us out of 
any part of your jurisdiction, before the time set by the 
Court, contrary to the liberty it had given unto us. 

By the order of the Government of Shawomet, John 
Warner, Secretary; sufficient witness being taken 
of our plain and man-like dealing with you herein. 



\o2 



A true copy of a letter sent to the Government and Gov- 
ernor of the Massachusetts, the day and year abovesaid. 
In witness of, or in presence of 

RALPH EARLE, 
JOHN ANTHONY. ' 

Here followeth a true copy of the Governor's answer to 
our letter abovesaid, set down here, verbatim, and is ex- 
tant, under his own hand: 

To Samuel Gorton, John Warner, and the rest of that 

Company. 

For satisfaction of what you require, by your writing of 
March 26, 1644, this is to let you know, that the expression 
and intent of the order of our last General Couit, concerning 
your coming within any part of our jurisdiction, doth com- 
prehend all the lands of Pomham and Saccononoco; and in 
the same are included the lands which you pretended to 
have purchased, upon part whereof you had built some 
houses, (be the place called Shawomet or otherwise;) so as 
you are not to come there, upon peril of your lives. This I 
testify to you. JOHN WINTHROP. 

Boston, 2, (i.) 1644. 

You must know withal, that the Court did not intend their 
order should be a scare-crow (as you write,) for you will 
find it real, and effectual, if you shall transgress it. 

^ Ralph Earle, was received an inhabitant of Rhode-Island June 29, 1639. 
He was living in 1G52. There was one of the same name engaged in Phil- 
jp's war, in 1675. Mention is made of him, in Churcli's Indian Wars, Drake's 
Ed. page 51. He opposed the selling of some Indians for slaves, who were 
taken at Aponagansetf. That was the ordinary mercy shewn the natives 
who were taken prisoners. They were sold only for a limited number of 
years. This circumstance will in some degree diminish our regret for such 
proceedings on the part of our forefathers toward the savages. 

Of the other witness John Anthony, I can find no traces. He was prob- 
ably of Rhode Island. The name is very common there, to the present 
dav.— S. 



153 

Thus fur tlic Governor's letter, written with his ownliand. 
Now, upon our coming to Rhode-Island, the Indians of 
that great country of the Narragansetts, hearing of our I'e- 
turn without the loss of our lives, they wondered, having ob- 
served the causeless cruelty they had offered unto us; some 
of them being within the hearing of the shot of the guns, 
whilst they lay entrenched against us; as also how we were 
used in the Massachusetts, and the constant report, whilst 
we lay amongst them, that some of our lives should be taken 
away, or else kept as slaves so long as we lived; consider- 
ing these and the like things, they marvelled much at our 
deliverance and release, from amongst them. Now our 
countrymen having given out formerly, amongst the Indians, 
that w-e were not Englishmen, to encourage them against 
us (because the awe of the English hath been much upon 
them) and being they could not father the name of any sec- 
tary or sect upon us, but we could clearly demonstrate we 
were no such opinionated persons, they then called us Gor- 
toneans, and told the Indians we were such kind of men, 
not English. Now the Indians calling the English in their 
language, Wattaconoges, they now called us Gorton-oges, 
and being they had heard a rumour of great war, to be in 
Old England, and that it was a land so furnished with mul- 
titudes of people, they presently framed unto themselves a 
cause of our deliverance, imagining that there were two 
kinds of people in Old England, the one called by the name 
of Englishmen and the other Gortonoges; and concluded 
that the Gortonoges were a mightier people then the En- 
glish, whom they call Wattaconoges, and therefore the 
Massachusetts thought it not safe to take away our lives, be- 
cause, however there were but a fewof us in New-England, 
in comparison of those that came out against us, yet that 
great people; that were in Old England would come over, 
and put them to death that should take away our lives from 
UP, without a just cause. 
I 



154 

Whereupon the Sachems of the Narragansetts consulting 
together, presently sent messengers unto us, to come and 
speak with them, and being they were those of whom we 
had bought our land (which now tbe Massachusetts had ta- 
ken away from us as all that inhabit upon that Bay have 
done) they being very importunate to have us to come over 
to speak with them, we not knowing what the occasion was, 
we yielded unto their request; a matter of half a dozen, or 
seven of us took boat to go over the Bay, to them, they see- 
ing the vessel come, news was brought to the Sachem, who 
sent a band of lusty, well armed men, who met us, as soon 
as we were come to land, to conduct us to old Sachem Co- 
nanicus ' his house. Multitudes of Indians, as we passed 

^ Roger Williams, in 1643, speaking of the Narragansett country, says, 
" the chiefest government in the country, is divided between a younger Sa- 
chem, Miantonomi, and an elder Sachem, Conanicus, of about forescote 
years old, the young man's uncle." Conanicus was son of Tashtassuck, a 
former Sachem of the Narragansetts, under whom that tribe had extended 
its dominion over many of the neighboring tribes. 

After the banishment of Roger Williams from the Massachusetts, he and 
his associates fled to the Narragansetts. The natives shared with these sec- 
ond pilgrims, their scanty fare. Without enquiring into their religious faith, 
they relieved their wants, contributed to their comfort, and gave them land 
to build and plant upon. When the followers of Mrs. Hutchinson, in a 
succeeding year, were banished by their Christian brethren, they sought 
and obtained shelter and accommodation from the same savages; and when 
no place was left for Gorton and his little company among hid countrymen, 
Miantonomi sold them Shawomet, for a home. Nor did their kindness to 
the first settlers of the State of Rhode-Island, stop here. Year after year 
rolled on, and they still remained the firm friends of these outcasts. Did 
they want larger accommodations in land, these were readily sold to them. 
Was their assistance required, it was cheerfully given. 

In 1636, after the banishment of Williams, and his settlement among the 
Narragansetts, the first formal treaty was concluded between that tribe and 
the Colony of Massachusetts. But even before this, the declaration of Co- 
nanicus was true — "he never suffered any wrong to be offered the English 
since they landed." "If," added he, " the Englishman speak true, if he 
mean truly, then shall I go to my grave in peace, and hope that the English 



155 

along, coining forth, and seemed joyful; which we taking 
notice of, (neither the one nor the other being usual among 

and my posterity shall live ia love and peace together." How humiliating 
to reflect, that this savage, even when making these declarations, could enu- 
merate ten instances in which the English had not kept faith witii him! 

The Narragansetts, though always more faithful and friendly to the Eng- 
lish than any other tribe, were always most suspected by the United Colo- 
nies. Their comparative strength and importance may have been in part the 
cause; but the greater cause of these suspicions, and of the injurious treat- 
ment they received, arose, undoubtedly, from the aid and assistance they af- 
forded to the heretical first settlers of the State of Rhode-Island. Was not 
the death of Miaulonomi assented to, or rather required, for the same rea- 
son ? 

In 1643, a war broke out between Sequasson, an ally of the Narragan- 
setts, and Uncas, Sachem of the Mohegans. Uncas killed seven of Sequas- 
son's men, wounded thirteen more, burnt his wigwams, and carried off the 
booty. Miantonomi had covenanted not to commence war with Uncas, 
without the assent of the English. He complained to Connecticut, and was 
told, the English had no hand in it, nor would encourage him. He applied 
to Massachusetts for redress, and was told " if Uncas had done him or his 
friends wrong, and would give no satisfaction, we would leave him to his 
own course.'' Thereupon JMiantonomi commenced a war upon Uncas; and 
in a battle that ensued, the Narragansetts were worsted, and Miantonomi 
taken prisoner. Uncas carried him to Hartford, and delivered him to the 
English. There he was kept guarded until the matter was laid before the 
Commissioners of the United Colonies, at Boston. In this assembly of civil- 
ians, it was determined unanimously, that "it would not be safe to set him at 
liberty, neither had we sufficient ground to put him to death." Five of the 
most judicious elders were consulted, and they agreed that he ought to be 
put to death!! It is matter of regret that their names cannot be ascertain- 
ed. Upon this, word was sent to Uncas, who took Miantonomi into his 
own jurisdiction, and there murdered him in cold blood, according to the 
direction of his Christian advisers. He was accompanied by several English, 
to see the execution, and protect him against the Narragansetts. 

The Narragansetts always asserted that they agreed with Uncas for the 
ransom of their Sachem. They gave in to the English the particulars of the 
payment made in part of the ransom. Uncas, at first, insisted that the 
goods delivered, were a present to himself, to induce him to surrender the 
custody of Miantonomi to the English; he said afterwards, that Miantonomi 



156 

them) some of us began to be a little jealous, that the a- 
gentsofthe Massachusetts, who lived near unto us, had 
gone about to betray us into their hands, upon some false 
suggestions concerning the death of their Sachem Mianto- 
nomi, who lost his life immediately before the Massachu- 
setts came against us; and however he was suddenly slain 
by an Indian coming behind him, as he marched upon the 
way, yet there were English present at the doing ofthe act, 
which we were a little jealous the above said agents might 
have suggested, that we might be consenting thereunto, 
which all the Indians took for a most injurious act, not only 
because he was so famous a Prince amongst them, but also 
however he was taken in a stratagem of war by the Indians, 
yet a great ransom was paid for his redemption, and his life 
taken away also; and they are very conscientious to recom- 
pense the shedding of blood, (especially of such personages) 
with blood again. But when we were come to the old Sa- 
chem's house, we were courteously entertained, and from 
thence conducted to the house of Sachem Pessicus, brother 
and successor in government to the late Miantonomi; when 
we were there, divers sachems and their chief counsellors, 
took us aside to consult with us; and asked what we intend- 
ed to do, or how we could live, seeing the Massachusetts 

disposed of them at his own pleasure. At any rate it does not appear that 
inquiry was instituted upon this subject, by the Commissioners ofthe United 
Colonies, till after the murder of this illustrious Sachem. 

If he had not protected the first settlers of the State of Rhode-Island, 
probably his liberty would not have been deemed inconsistent with the safety 
of the United Colonies; nor would the opinions ofthe five elders have con- 
vinced them that they had sufficient ground to put him to death. As it was 
lie was sacrificed, because he was more liberal in his views than his Chris- 
tian neighbors — more benevolent in his actions — more catholic in his relig- 
ion. His memory should be embalmed in the grateful recollection of every 
inhabitant of the State of Rhode-Island. 

Conanicus survived Miantonomi. He died June 4, 1647, in good old 
age, honored by his tribe, and respected and beloved by the whites who had 
settled in his territories. — S. 



lo7 

had not only taken our estates from us in goods and chat- 
tels, hut also our houses, lands and labors, where we should 
raise more, for the preservation of our families, and withal 
told us that their condition, might (in great measure) be 
parallel with ours, else they would willingly have done any 
thing for our help, in regard that our land was bought of 
them, and we had faithfully paid them for it, according to 
our contract. But they told us, they had not only lost 
their Sachem, so beloved amongst them, and such an instru- 
ment of their public good; but had also utterly impoverish- 
ed themselves, by paying such a ransom for his life, (as they 
then made us an account of) notwithstanding his life 
taken away, and that detained also. We made answer un- 
to them; that for our parts, we were not discouraged in any 
thing that had befallen us, for we were subjects to such a 
noble State in Old England, that however we were far oft" 
from our King and State, yet we doubted not but in due 
time, we should have redress; and in the mean time we 
were resolved to undergo it with patience, and in what way 
we could, labour with our hands for the preservation for our 
wives and children. The answer they made unto us was 
this, that they thought we belonged to a better Master 
than the Massachusetts did. Whereupon desiring our stay, 
they called a General Assembly, to make known their minds 
and to see the minds of their people, and with joint and unan- 
imous consent, concluded to become subjects to the State 
and Government of Old England, in case they might be ac- 
cepted of We told them, we could promise them nothing, 
nor take any engagements upon us, not knowing the minds 
of that honorable State; but if they would voluntarily make 
tender of themselves, as they themselves thought meet, we 
would endeavour to convey it safely (in case we went over 
about our own occasions) and bring them word what was 
the pleasure of the State therein: Whereupon they chose 
four of us, as Commissioners in trust for the safe custody. 



15S 

and conveyance of their act and deed, unto the the State of 
Old England. 

The Act and Deed of the voluntary and free submission of the 
chief Sachem, and the rest of the Princes, with the whole peo- 
ple of the JVarragansetts, unto the Government and protec- 
tion of that Honorable State of Old-England ; set down here, 
verbatim, the Deed itself being extant. 

Know all Men, Colonies, Peoples, and Nations, unto 
the fame hereof shall come; that we the chief Sachems, 
Princes or Governors of the Narragansett, (in that part of 
America, now called New-England) together with the joint 
and unanimous consent of all our people and subjects, in- 
habitants thereof, do upon serious consideration, mature 
and deliberate advice and counsel, great and weighty grounds 
and reasons moving us thereunto, whereof one most effec- 
tual unto us, is, that noble fame we have heard of that 

GREAT AND MIGHTY PrINCE, ChARLES, KiNG OF GrEAT BRI- 
TAIN, in that honorable and princely care he hath of all his 
servants, and true and loyal subjects; the consideration 
whereof movetli and bendeth our hearts with one consent, 
freely, voluntarily, and most humbly to submit, subject, and 
give over ourselves, peoples, lands, rights, inheritances, 
and possessions whatsoever, in ourselves and our heirs suc- 
cessively for ever, unto the protection, care and govern- 
ment of that WORTHY AND ROYAL PrINCE, ChARLES, KlNG 

OF Great Britain ard Ireland, his heirs and successors 
forever, to be ruled and governed according to the ancient 
and honorable laws and customs, established in that so re- 
nowned realm and kingdom of Old England; we do, there- 
fore, by these presents, confess, and most willingly and sub- 
missively acknowledge, ourselves to be the humble, loving 
and obedient servants and subjects of his Majesty; to be 
ruled, ordered, and disposed of, in ourselves and ours, ac- 
cording to his princely wisdom, counsel and laws of that 



159 

honorable State of Old England; upon condilion of his Maj- 
esty's royal protection, and lighting of us in what wrong is, or 
may be done unto us, according to his honorable laws and 
customs, exercised amongst his subjects, in their preserva- 
tion and safety, and in the defeating and overthrow of his 
and their enemies; not that we find ourselves necessitated 
hereunto, in respect of our relation, or occasion we have, 
or may have, with any of the natives in these parts, know-, 
ing ourselves sufficient defence, and able to judge in any 
matter or cause in that respect; but have just cause of jeal- 
ousy and suspicion of some of His Majesty's pretended 
subjects. Therefore our desire is, to have our matters and 
causes heard and tried according to his just and equal laws, 
in that way and order His Highness shall please to ap- 
point: JYor can tve yield over ourselves unto any, that are sub- 
jects themselves in any case; having ourselves been the chief 
Sachems, or Princes successively, of the country, time out 
of mind; and for our present and lawful enacting hereof be- 
ing so far remote from His Majesty, we have, by joint con- 
sent, made choice of four of his loyal and loving subjects 
our trusty and well-beloved friends, Samuel Gorton, John 
Wickes, Randall Holden and John Warner, whom we have 
deputed, and made our lawful Attornies or Commissioners 
not only for the acting and performing of this our Deed in 
the behalf of His Highness; but also for the safe custody, 
careful conveyance, and declaration hereof unto liis grace*, 
being done upon the lands of the Narragansett, at a Court 
or General Assembly called and assembled together, of pur- 
pose, for the public enacting, and manifestation hereof. 

And for the further confirmation, and establishino- of this 
our Act and Deed, we, the abovesaid Sachems or Princes 
have, according to that commendable custom of Englishmen, 
subscribed our names and set our seals hereunto, as so many 
testimonies of our faith and truth, cur love and loyalty to 
that our dread Sovereign, and that according to the Eno-- 



IGO 



lishmen'ri account. Dated the nineteenth day of April, one 
thousand six hundred forty-four. 



PESSICUS, his mark, Chief 
Sachem, and successor of that 
late deceased Miantonomi. 



The mark of that ancient CO- 
NANICUS, Protector of that 
late deceased Miantonomi, 
durinii the time of his non- 



V-W" « 


„. 


'"'K 


T \ 


L. 


s. ? 


V ^ 




— « 


1 




— » 


H \ 


L. 


S.f 


H U' 


— 


— a 



The mark of MIXAN, son 
and heir of that abovesaid Co- 
nanicus. 




{ L. S. ? 
K a 



IVilnessed bij two of the chief counsellors to Sachem Pessicus. 
' AUWASHOOSSE, his mark. 



Indians. J 




TOMANICK, 

j his mark. 

I 
Sealed and delivered, in the presence of these jiersons. 

(CHRISTOPHER HELME,' 
English. { ROBERT POTTER, 
/ RICHARD CARDER. 



1 ChiLstopher Ilelnie. When he arrived in this country, where he first 
settled, and when he went to Shawoniet, I have not been able to ascertain. 
On the 23d of January, 1649, he was disfranchised, " forgoing about to un- 
dermine the town" of Warwick. It would seem that this censure was re- 
moved, as he continued to reside tliere till his death, which was before De- 
cember, 1650. He left a widow, Margaret. He had a son, William, who 
lived in Warwick, in 16U1. — S. 



161 

Here followetli ii copy of a letter sent to the Massachu- 
setts, by the Saclicins of the Narragansetts, (shortly after 
their subjection to the State and Government of Old Eng- 
land) they being sent unto by the Massachusetts, to make 
their appearance ai their General Court, tiien approaching: 

We understand your desire is, that we should come down 
into the INIassachusctts, at the time of your Court, now ap- 
proaching. Our occasions at this time are very great; and 
the more because of the loss (in that manner) of our late de- 
ceased brother, upon which occasion, if we should not stir 
ourselves, to give testimony of our faithfulness unto the 
cause of that our so unjust deprivation of such an instru- 
ment as he was amongst us, for our common good, we 
should fear his blood would lie upon ourselves; so that we 
desire of you, being we take you for a wise people, to let 
us know your reasons why you seem to advise us as you do, 
not to go out against our so inhuman and cruel adversary, 
who took so great a ransom to release him, and his life also, 
when that was done. Our brother was willing to stir much 
abroad to converse with men, and we see a sad event at the 
last thereupon. Take it not ill, therefore, though we re- 
solve to keep at home, (unless some great necessity calls 
us out) and so, at this time, do not repair unto you, accord- 
ing to your request. And the rather because we have sub- 
jected ourselves, our lands and possessions, with all the 
rights and inheritances of us and our people, either by con- 
quest, voluntary subjection or otherwise, unto that famous 
and honorable government of that Royal King, Charles, and 
that State of Old England, to be ordered and governed ac- 
cording to the laws and customs thereof; not doubting of the 
continuance of that former love that hath been betwixt you 
and us, but rather to have it increase, hereby being subjects 
now, (and that with joint and voluntary consent) unto the 
same King and State yourselves are. So that if any small 
things of diflerenro should fall out betwixt ns, onlv the ?end- 



162 

ing of a messenger may bring it to right again; but il any 
great matter should fall, (which we hope and desire will not, 
nor may not) then neither yourselves, nor we are to be judges ; 
but both of us are to have recourse, and repair unto that 
honorable and just Government; and for the passage of us 
or our men, to and again amongst you, about ours or their 
own occasions, to have commerce with you, we desire and 
hope they shall have no worse dealing or entertainment 
than formerly we have had amongst you, and do resolve ac- 
cordingly to give no worse respect to you or yours, than 
formerly you have found amongst us, according to the con- 
dition and manner of our country. 

Narragansett, this present May the 24th, 1644. 

T 1 T* 

PESSICUS, X—^***-^ His mark. 



•Vw-i— ^ Hi 



CONANICUS, i His mark. 




IS^ow, before the assembling of the next General Court, in 
regard the Indians had expressed themselves as above, we 
heard there were fears and jealousies raised up in the minds 
of the people of the Massachusetts, and other of their Unit- 
ed Colonies, as though there was some danger of the Nar- 
ragansetts coming against them, to do some hurt unto them. 
So that when we heard their Court was assembled, we 
wrote unto them as follows: 

A true cojjy of a Letter sent to the Massachusetts, at a General 
Court, held shortly after the submission of the j^eople of the 
JS'arragansetts unto the Slate of Old England, by the Com- 
missioners imt in trust for the further 2')iiblication of their 
solemn Jld. 
These arc to let you understand, that since you expelled 



1G3 

us out of your coasts, the Saclicins of the Narragunsett, 
have sent for certain men of the King's Majesty's subjects, 
and upon advised counsel amongst themselves, (a General 
Assembly being called of purpose for that end) they have 
jointly, voluntarily, and with unanimous consent, submitted 
and subjected themselves, with their lands and possessions 
inherited by lineal descent, voluntary subjection, right of 
conquest, purchase or otherwise, whatever lands or privi- 
leges appertain and belong unto them, unto that honorable 
and famous Prince, Ciiarles, King of Great Britain and 
Ireland, in that renowned State and Government of Old 
England, to be ruled and ordered, according to those hono- 
rable laws and customs, in themselves and their successors 
forever, which is performed and done, in that solemn, dura- 
ble and commendable custom of record, under divers and 
several hands and seals, witnessed sufficiently, both by the 
Natives and English, solemnly delivered and received on His 
Majesty's behalf, holding correspondence with the laws and 
customsof that honorable State of Old England in all points. 
We thought good therefore, to give you notice hereof, at 
your General Court now assembled, that it may serve to 
inform yourselves, and all your United Colonies, of the per- 
formance of this act done, without any further pains or 
trouble; that so not ourselves only, that are eye and ear 
witnesses hereof, (but you also) may follow our occasions 
and employments, without any extraordinary care or fear of 
the people abovesaid, to offer to make any inroad, or give 
any assault upon us. But with that indignity offered and 
done unto their sovereign, which cannot be borne nor put 
up, without a sharp and princely revenge, nor may we upon 
the like penalty, ofter to disturb them in their bounds and 
territories, in their ordinary and accustomed employments 
among themselves, or with any of their neighboring na- 
tives, whose grounds of proceeds, causes and occasions 
are better known unto themselves, than we can be able to 



164 

judge of. But if either you or we find any thing amongst 
them too grievous to be borne, they not making any violent 
assault upon us, we know whither and to whom we are to 
repair, and have recourse for redress, as we tender our al- 
legianjce and subjection unto our King and State, unto 
which they are become fellow subjects with ourselves; and 
therefore, of necessity. His Majesty's princely care must 
reach unto them. Furthermore, that it may appear, that 
our dealings towards you, and all men, have been and shall 
prove just and true, whatever your dealings ma-y or have 
manifested themselves to be towards us; know therefore, 
that being abroad of late, about our occasions, we fell to be 
where one of the Sachems of that great people oftheMauk- 
quogges ' was, with some of his men, whom we perceive 
are the most fierce and warlike people in the country, or 
continent where we are, furnished with 3700 guns — men ex- 
pert in the use of them, plenty of powder and shot, wiih fur- 
niture for their bodies in time of war for their safety, which 
our natives have not. We understand that of late they 
have slain a hundred French, with many Indians, which 
were in league with the French, putting many of them to 
cruel tortures; and have lost but two of their own men. 
These being, as we understand, deeply affected with the 
Narragansetts, in the loss of their late Sachem, unjust de- 
taining also of so great a ransom, given and received for 
his life; and else are resolved (that if any people offer to 
assault them in their accustomed courses amongst the na- 
tives, or seeking after their ancient rights and privileges, 
not offering wrong to any of His Majesty's subjects, nor 

* Mohawks. Rumors of the Mohawks were not unfrequent, at that time, 
in the Colonies. They were universally represented as exceedingly savage 
and cruel. Their name alone, struck terror to the hearts of the natives who 
inhabited New-England. It would appear, that there was some connexion 
between them and the Narragansetts. That their numbers and strength 
were overrated by the owners of Shawomet, is highly probable. — S. 



1G5 

violating their subjection to that noble State, which they 
seem to respect, and much to adore) to wage war with them 
unto the uttermost, which it seems is the very spirit of that 
people to be exercised that way; which as we desire to 
make use of it ourselves, so do we hereby give notice to 
you also, to make the best use of it unto yourselves, in all 
your colonies united. 

By us, the true and lawful owners of Shawomct. 

JOHN WARNER, Secret. 
June the 20th, 1G14. 

These things being done, we residing upon Aquctluicck, 
alias Rhode-Island, hiring houses and grounds to plant 
upon, for the preservation of our families, the Governor 
of the Massachusetts perceiving that we still abode among 
the English, and were not gone to the Dutch, as others 
formerly did, he then wrote a letter, privately, to some in 
the island, whom he thought they had interest in, being he 
continued a member of their Church, however removed from 
them, telling him, that if he and others (who were in like 
relation unto them) could work the people of the island to 
deliver us up into their hands again, (at least some of us) 
it would not only be acceptable unto the Court, then sitting, 
but unto most of the people in general. The people of the 
island having notice of this letter, did altogether dislike and 
detest any such course to be held with us; knowing very 
well, what they had already done, and how causelessly. 
So that we abode still upon the island, and followed our em- 
ployments, until such time as there appeared amongst us a 
Charter of Civil Government, granted by the State of Old 
England, for the orderly, quiet and peaceable government 
of the people inhabiting in those parts of tlie country called 
Providence Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay; whicli 
Charter being joyfully embraced, and with all expedition, 
an orderly and joint course was held, for the investing of the 
])eople into the power and lil)erties thoreof unanimously, 



166 



ior the exercise of the authority, in the execution of laws, 
for the good and quiet of the people, which thing gave 
great encouragement unto the planters, to go on in their 
employments, hoping to enjoy their lawful rights and privi- 
leges without disturbance, which the Massachusetts, to- 
gether with Plymouth, understanding, they go about by all 
means to discourage the people, by their endeavouring to 
weaken and invalid the authority of the Charter in the 
eyes of the countr) , entrenching upon those places, to 
frustrate and make void the Charter, as by maintaining 
their coadjutors as aforesaid, in opposing of us, giving them 
order to set up writs upon our houses, where formerly we 
lived, prohibiting all men for intermeddling with those 
houses, lands, peoples, either English or Indians, (which 
they call their own people) without their consent and appro- 
bation in those parts, which all plainly fall with in the con- 
fines of the forenamed Charter, and far out of all their juris- 
diction. 

Here followeth a true copy of a Warrant, set upon our 
houses at Shawomet, verbatim, being extant, which was 
done after the Charter appeared amongst us. 

Whereas we understand that some of our countrymen 
about Providence, or those parts, do intend to set down 
upon our lands at Shawomet, or those parts; this is there- 
fore to give notice to any such, that they forbear, without 
license from us, to attempt the same, or to meddle with any 
of our people there, either English or Indians; for let them 
be assured, that we resolve to maintain our just rights. 

Given at the Court at Boston, the 16th of the 8th month, 
Ann. 1644. 

By me, INCREASE NOWELL, Secret. 

After this, they ceased not to send out their Warrants 
amongst us, after the Charter was established amongst us, 
sending divers, and serving them upon the men of Provi- 



IG7 

dence, expressly commanding their appearance, at tlieir 
Courts in the Massachusetts. 

A copy of one of their Warrants to the men of Provi- 
dence, here followeth, word for word, and is extant, under 

their hand: 

To THE Executors of Francis Weston. 

You arc required to take notice of an attachment against 
the lands of Francis Weston, so as to bind you to be re- 
sponsible, at the next Court at Boston, to answer the com- 
plaint of William Arnold,* for withholding a debt of thirty 
shillings, duo to him, and hereof not to fail, at your peril. 

Dated the 5, (4) IG45. 

Per Cur. WILLIAM ASPINWALL. 

And as they thus go beyond their bounds, not only to en- 
trench upon the liberties and labors of their countrymen, 
(but also upon that authority transferred upon that people 
by the State of Old England, for the quiet and peaceable 
ordering and government of themselves) not only in Provi- 
dence and Shawomet, but likewise upon Rhode-Island, 
both in Portsmouth and Newport, specified in the Charter. 
The colony of Plymouth joined in league with the Massa- 
chusetts, to such ends and purposes, and sent their messen- 
gers to Rhode-Island, as namely one Master John Brown, ^ 

*One of their new coined subjects amongst us. 

■ John Brown held the office of Assistant, in Plymouth colony, for a great 
number of years. He was repeatedly chosen one of the Commissioners 
from that coloay in the meetings of the United Colonies. He lived in Taun- 
ton, Rehoboth, and afterward in Swanzey. The allegation in the text is 
corroborated by Winthrop. [See Sav. Wint. vol. ii. p. 220.] But it is dif- 
ficult to reconcile bis conduct in this business, with the circumstance narrat- 
ed of him by Winthrop, in Sav. Wint. vol. ii. p. 252, to wit, that he, Mr. 
Brown, in 1643, forbade the Massachusetts emigrants from settling on 
Pomham's land, " telling them that it belonged to Plymouth, and that it 
should be restored to the right owners, meaning Gorton and his company." 
Sentiments similar to the last quoted from ^Vinthrop, were reiterated by 



168 

an Assistant in government amongst them there, who went 
from house to house, (both in Portsmouth and Newport) 
discouraging the people for yielding any obedience unto the 
authority of the Charter; giving them warning (as from the 
Court of Plymouth) not to submit unto any government that 
was established by virtue of a late pretended Charter, (as 
he very presumptuously called it) nor unto any other au- 
thority, or government, but only such as was allowed and 
approved of by them, although formerly they have many 
times confessed and acknowledged both by word and writ- 
ing, that it was out of their jurisdictions, vvithout which ac- 
knowledgment, the people would never have adventured to 
lay out their estates, and to have planted themselves and 
families in those parts, some of them having too great and 
costly experience of Plymouth's dealings with their coun- 
trymen, to be such as may be fitly parallel with the dealings 
of the Massachusetts; and their practice, springing from the 
same spirit, hath brought them into league and band, when 
they were clearly manifested each to other, who before at 
the time of their first neighborhood there, they were 
at a distance, and stood aloof, one from the other, as each 
thinking, I am holier than thou; the menof Plymouth com- 
ing thither from Amsterdam, and the other out of hot per- 
secutions of the Bishops in Old England. 

Now that these men do not only entrench causelessly up- 
on their countrymen, but also upon the poor Indians inhab- 
iting in those parts, it is very plain, by their proceedings 
against that people of that Narragansett, whose country 



him before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, in 1651, as may be 
seen in Appendix, No. 7. Mr. Brown scrnpled tlie right of coercing any per- 
son to support the ministry. There was scarcely any other man, either in 
Plymouth or Massachusetts, who could, with impunity, have expressed a 
doubt on this subject. But it does not appear to have diminished his influ- 
ence, either in his own colony, or witii the Commissioners of the United 
Colonies. lie died in IGGS. — S. 



169 

falls within the confines of the Charter, which people only 
going about to right themselves upon such Indians as they 
conceive have mightily wronged them, in taking away the 
life of their Prince, after so great a ransom given and re- 
ceived for his rescue. This they make their occasion to 
go out against them to cut them off, and so take their coun- 
try into their own jurisdiction: Whereas the Indians, of our 
knowledge hold themselves bound to revenge the blood of 
their Prince, it being so unlawfully (in their eyes) taken 
away; nay, they are not quiet in themselves, unless they 
do revenge it, or else spill their own, in their en- 
deavors thereafter; in the mean time, they are in a contin- 
ued act of mourning, as we know, for the space of one whole 
year and an half, they mourned continually, not only by 
blacking their faces in token thereof, but every day their 
mourning women, morning and evening upon their knees, 
with lamentations and many tears, a long time together, as 
ourselves have been eye witnesses, when we have had oc- 
casions amongst them; and in houses that were more public, 
where the wife and children of the deceased Prince were, 
there did a man continue a speech (during the time of the 
women's praying, sighing and lamenting with abundance of 
te"ars,) declaring what their loss was in being deprived of 
such a Sachem, and how wrongfully it was done by the ene- 
my, as also how they were all of them engaged to revenge 
his blood, else would it so lie upon their own heads, as to bring 
more miseries and evils upon them.* Now for this their 
proceeding against their adversary, the Indian, that thus 

' That this was the customary manner of mourning for the dead, appears 
from Williams's Key. " Upon the death of the sick," says he, " the fath- 
er or husband, and all his neighbors, the men also, as the English wear 
black clothes, wear black faces, and lay on soot very thick, which I have 
often seen clotted with their tears. This blacking and lamenting they ob- 
serve in most doleful manner, divers weeks and months, yea, a year, if ihft 
per'^on be great and public." — S. 
J 



170 

deprived them of their Sachem, and so wrongfully (as they 
conceive) the Massachusetts and Plymouth have offered to 
go out against the people of the Narragansetts, to cut them 
off by the sword, sending word to Providence Plantations, 
that if they should stand as neuters, and not go out with 
them in this work, they would make plunder of them. So 
Captain Standish' sent word in the name of Plymouth (now 
since we came out of those parts) unto the men of Provi- 
dence, as we are credibly informed by letters from divers 
hands, as also by word of mouth from persons of good note, 
who were in the country there present among them when 
these things were done, informing us of many passages, of 
the proceedings of the Massachusetts and Plymouth, both 
towards the people of Providence Plantations, as also the 
Indians of that country of the Narragansetts. Only one 
letter that concerns the Indians, we desire to set down, to 
give further intelligence to the reader of these men's deal- 
ings, who seemed so meek, and so rhild in their native coun- 
try, Old England, in the time of their abode there, as 
though they could not heave a hand, or wag a tongue 
against any thing but a Bishop's ceremony, that being on- 
ly offensive unto them. 

Here followeth a true copy of a letter sent unto us since 
our coming from those parts of America called New-Eng- 
land: 

We are all in health, at this present, and cheerful; (the 
greatest want is your company) though men generally more 
invective than ever. The Bay had provided an army to go 
against the Narragansetts, had they not been prevented in 

' Miles Standish was " the hero of New-England." lie was one of "the 
first comers" of Plymouth; was their chief military commander and much 
celebrated for his skill and prowess. For nineteen years he was one of the 
Assistants in that colony. lie died at Duxbury in 1636. — S. 



17i 

the very interim, tluis. Captain Harding ' informed the 
Court, of the difliculty of the cntcrprize, upon which the 
Court employed him and Mr. Wilbour,= to go to Nar- 
ragausetts, and take Benedict* to interpret. When 
they came to Benedict, he refused to go ^vithout a hundred 
men in arms, only to possess them with danger, to effect his 
bloody plot; upon which Mr. Williams, being sent for to 
Narragansett, and also myself, to enquire of us, what the 
minds of these mad people were, to kill men for nothing ; upon 
which I went to Providence, a thinking to go with Master 
Williams; but when I came there, he was gone with the 
Captain and Master Wilbour, upon Benedict's refusal. I 
stayed their return, and their agreement was to have Pessi- 
cust go i'lto the Bay, and Master Williams vvas necessitat- 
ed to put himself hostage till his return. This news coming 
into the Bay, did so vex the ministers, that Master Cotton 
preached upon it, that it being so wicked an act to take Master 
Williams with them, being one cast out of the Church. It 
was all one as to ask counsel of a witch, and that those that 
did it were worthy to die. Upon which Master Wilbour 
was ready to die, for fear he should be hanged. So then 
the Indians went down, and they compelled them to cease 
wars with Uncas,J and to pay them five hundred pounds, 

*Oae of ihar aforesaid subjects or agents, dwelling ia Providence. 

t Chief Sachem of the Narragansett. 

i That is, the Indian who slew their Sachem Miantonomi, when he had 
Teceived a ransom for his life. 

1 Robert Harding was admitted a freeman of Massachusetts in 1631; 
was afterwards a Captain, and one of the leading men in Boston. He was 
among those who were disarmed in 1637, after whicli he removed to 
Rhode-Island, where he was admitted a freeman, August 20, 1638. — S. 

- Samuel Wilbour was admitted a freeman in Massachusetts, in 1634. In 
1637 he was disarmed, with the other followers of Mrs. Hutchinson, and 
removed to Rhode-Island. He signed the first covenant of government 
there, in 1638. — S. 



172 

for charges of Court, and provisions for soldiers,* and to 
leave four of the chief Sachem's children, till the money be 
paid, and to leave four of his chief men till the children 
came, and to promise them not to sell any land without their 
consent. I This being done, they came home again, and 
sent a man to tell me what was done, telling me that if the 
Lords in England help them not, they are like to suffer at 
present; but still they say they are not afraid of them, but 
only give them their demands, rather than to war before the 
Lords hear of it; that all may see they mean no hurt to 
English, but will submit to the laws of England, concluding 
it is but lent, it will come home with advantage, both to their 
wisdom and profit. Pessicus hath been often with me, to 
desire me to inform you of these things, with great desire to 
see you again. Thus, in haste, I rest, 

Your ever loving friend, J. W.^ 

This 20th of November, 1G45. 

Thus have we given a true report, and made a faithful 
relation, as briefly as we could, of what passages have fallen 
out betwixt the people of Providence Plantations, and the 
rest of our countrymen inhabiting about them, which we 
have sensibly felt, and our families are now pressed under, 
laying it unto heart, and seriously taking into considera- 
tion, hath not only occasioned but necessitated some of us 
to be here at this present, with the consent of many others, 
according to our bounden duty and allegiance, to present 
the truth hereof to this State. 

London, the 14th of January, 1645. 

*The Court called to consult how to cut them off, and soldiers they had 
raised up for that purpose. 

t Thus to get interest in their land, either to people it with whom they 
please, or else to get occasion to go out against them again. 

' Probably from John Wickes, or John Warner, as neither of them went 
to England with Gorton and Holden, the other Commissioners appointed 
by theNarrngansetts, .in their deed of submis.^ion. — S. 



173 

Here comcth a letter to hanJ, was written in the time of 
our confinement, and lying in bolts and irons, in the INIas- 
sachusetta, occasioned by one of our wives, she hearing doc- 
trine delivered (in that part of the country where she was 
driven with her children) questioning the truth of it, wrote 
to her husband, to desire his thoughts of it. It was gather- 
ed from Mat.xxiv.29, and alluding also to Heb.xii.26,27, for 
tiie explication of it; the substance of the doctrine was, that 
such a time of reformation and restoration of the Church of 
God, here on earth, was coming, the glory whereof should 
darken the sun and moon, and cause the stars to fall from 
heaven, that is, saith he, make the Apostle's doctrine and 
order of the Churches in those days to appear as darkness 
in comparison of that light which should now appear; shew- 
ing also, that the ministry of the Apostles was that which 
rniffht and should be removed, that a more excellent to glory 
might be brought in and remain; concluding that the minis- 
try of the Apostles, was but a ministry of witness, but one 
should hereafter appear having the presence and reality of 
that which they but only witnessed, and gave testimony un- 
to. 

Here followeth a true copy of the answer given unto the 
things propounded as above; in way of satisfaction, how we 
are to think of such kind of doctrine, which the world is so 
taken up with, and seems to stand in such expectation and 
hopes of. 

Concerning that point you wrote from Mat. xxiv. 29, as 
also Heb. xii. 26, 27, namely, that the Apostle's ministry, 
was a ministry of witness, we readily grant; but that it was 
no more than a ministry of witness, we utterly deny; for it 
had not only witness, but judgment also of condemnation and 
absolution in it; therefore the Apostle saith, God shall judge 
you according to my gospel, for the Apostles are not, but 
through the spirit of the Son, who is that faithful and true 
witness, yea, and the judge of all, also, and higher thtui lii.s 



174 

iiiinistrfition, (who comes out of the bosom of the father) we 
look nor ever desire to go. Therefore we only confess 
him, who i-? and who was, and who is to come; and therefore, 
reject such a gospel as professeth such persons, times and 
ministrations past, as never shall come again, and such per- 
sons, times and ministrations, to come, as yet never were, as 
a cunning device and slight of Satan, to beguile the souls of 
men, either to stand in expectation of things to come^ or 
else in admiration of things past, whilst in the mean time 
they are kept void of faith, which gives being unto the 
things, yea, even at the present time; otherwise it is but to 
know persons and things after the flesh, but henceforth 
know we no man after the flesh, no, though we have known 
Christ Jesus after the flesh, yet henceforth know we him no 
more. 

And for the sun being darkened, to be the ministry of the 
Apostles becoming dark, in respect of a great light appear- 
ing, we may in no case allow, for the sun there spoken of, 
is that Sun of Righteousness, a greater than which shall nev- 
er appear; but when the cross of Christ, (spoken of in that 
chapter) is evidently set forth and declared to be that which 
indeed it is; then is that Sun of Righteousness, that is light 
in itself, turned into darkness, in all the men of the world, 
even as the saints, which are darkness in themselves, be- 
come light in the Lord; for as the wicked turn the truth of 
God into a lie, which is truth in itself, and ever will be, so 
they transform the light of the Lord into darkness, which 
in itself is light, and can never be darkness: The moon al- 
s^, whose time is to appear, and her place to have dominioa 
in the night, shall not give her light; she shall fail in her 
office to shine, wax, wane, and to set bounds to times and 
seasons; that is, the wicked shall see themselves deprived 
of all hope to attain to a change, time, or season, which 
shall alter their woful condition, or remove the wrath of 
the Lord from them; yea, in their looking back fo the 



175 

changes of their life before, wherein they have thought 
themselves so well exercised, the moon in that respect shall 
be turned into blood, (as Joel speaks in the same case) all 
times shall afford them nothing else but to see how they have 
been practising, the shedding of that innocent blood; even 
from the blood of Abel, whom his brother slew in the field, 
where they were exercised in ordinary employments, in the 
thinii-s of this life, unto the blood of Zacharius slain, (between) 
or in the middle of the temple and the altar, even in the very 
heio-ht of their worship and ordinances, so much stood for, 
at this day. Nothing but such manner of liglit, or such a 
time or season, (shall that light of heaven) the times and 
chano-es which they have passed through, aflbrd unto them; 
yea, the stars shall fall from heaven, even cease to afford 
their various glories and lights, yea, that day-star shall nev- 
er give notice of that day springing from on high to visit 
them, or the rise of that Son of Righteousness, with healing 
under his wings, nor shall their several operations and vir- 
tues yield any refreshment unto these terrene and sublu- 
nary things, that is, all those several glories, and various 
virtues and operations that are in that bright morning star, 
the Lord Jesus, and in those seven stars which he holds in 
his right hand, they shall all fall off and lose their lustre, light 
and influence, in and towards the earthly sons of Adam, as 
though they had never been; for as the rejoicing of the 
lamp of the righteous is a putting out and a cessation of all 
sin and sorrow; even so the putting out of the candle of the 
wicked is a cessation and utter demolishing of all the vir- 
tues and excellencies of Christ unto them, as though they 
were not at all; nay, more than so, for as the sin and miseries 
which men are by nature subject unto, are made, through 
the wisdom of God, a means whereby we see the height and 
depth, yea, all the dimensions of the love of God do ap- 
pear unto us; so are the excellencies that are in Jesus 
Christ made (through the wisdom of that serpent) means of 



17G 

torture and torment to the wicked forever, even as the ex- 
cellencies of these visible heavens, would be a greater tor- 
ture to man to lose them, than if he had never seen or en- 
joyed them; and thence it is, that the powers of heaven are 
shaken, or the dominions of heaven; for every thing in the 
heavens hath its lordship; the sun hath dominion of the day, 
the moon and the stars the dominion of the night; the sun 
hath lordship, in shining when the moon hides her face, but 
not in setting bounds to times and seasons; for the moon 
hath lordship in that, but not in afibrding virtue and influ- 
ence to herbs and plants; for the stars have power and do- 
minion in that, yea, every star hath its particular power and 
virtue, yet can they not water the earth! The clouds have 
their dominion in that, yet cannot they serve man to breathe 
in; the air hath dominion in that. So it is in the heavenly 
powers of our Lord Christ, whatsoever is in him hath its 
dominion, so as all the rest have not their glory without 
it; so that whosoever is declared in the kingdom of heaven 
it is the first and the chief, and all the rest do serve to make 
up all its posver or chieftie, so all the elders cast down their 
crowns before it; all the excellencies that are in Christ Je- 
sus, as love, wisdom, righteousness, holiness, power, and 
glory, all things in him have dominion and power, and all 
these heavenly powers whatsoever are shaken, that is, re- 
moved out of their places, not to appear in them any more, 
for the place wherein God declared his image at the first, in 
the beginning, was man; but when the cross of Christ is tru- 
ly declared, then are all these heavenly powers shaken out 
of man, yea, removed out of that proper place given unto 
them in the beginning. Therefore it is said immediately 
after these tribulations, or immediately with these tribula- 
tions, (as the word will also beai) that is, the preaching of 
the Cross and these things are inseparable. No marvel 
therefore, that whenever the Cross is preached, the champ- 
ions of that man of sin, came out against it, striving to re- 



177 

tain their God: for as it would be to nature, in things of this 
life, to see all chief powers and heavenly bodies so shaken, 
as to remove them out of their place forever; the very 
thoughts whereof are dismal to the mind of man, so, and infi- 
nitely more, is it to the soul of a man, to have the excellencies 
and noble jjowcrs and dominions of God removed out of his 
heart, where he placed them in the act of his first creation, 
and so that the excellencies of Christ are ever shaking, and 
ever removing out of their place in the wicked, that the 
height of their torment may ever appear and remain: for 
these things are shaken and removed in them, through the 
wisdom of the serpent, that those things that cannot be shak- 
en, namely, the wrath and vengeance of God, may remain; 
even so it is in the godly, their sins and miseries are ever 
shaking and removing out of their proper place, that those 
things that cannot be shaken, namely, the grace and right- 
eousness of Christ may remain forever: therefore the voice 
of the Gospel shakes both heaven and earth, in that place 
alluded unto in your letter, Ileb. xii. 26, 27, alluding both 
to Mount Sinai, and Mount Sion, so that the word yet 
once more, declares a double removal, yea, and that of 
things that are made, for man was made in the image of 
GoD, yet the wisdom of the serpent removed this image, that 
man's righteousness, which is nothing but abomination in 
the sight of God, might ever remain. So also was Christ 
made sin, but the wisdom of God removed this sin, in the 
very act of his being made so, that the righteousness of 
God might remain and abide forever; and then and then only 
shall or doth appear the sign, or the miracle or wonder of 
the Son of Man in heaven, in those clouds of witness, or in 
that cloud of witnesses with power and great glory, so as all 
earthly kindreds shall mourn and wail before him; even so, 
Amen. Now the sign or wonder of the Son of Man is this, 
that God made him a world of life at the first; for he breath- 
ed into his face the breath of lives, (as the word is) for the 
J* 



T78 

life of all the world was in him, and yet this world of life is 
become nothing else but a world of death in the wicked, and 
no life of God found in them at all; so is that Son of Man 
in the second Adam, made a world of sin and death, and yet 
this world of sin and death is become a world of righteous- 
ness and life unto the godly, and no sin or unrighteousness 
of man found in them, for never was guile found in his 
mouth. Even so. Amen. And this is the sign or miracle 
of the Son of Man, which the world knows not of, and 
therefore hath so many empty conjectures what it may be 
thought to be, gazing up into heaven after it, when as it is 
come down unto us, and they know it not. Rom. x. 7, 8. 

Thus have I given you my thoughts,^ as brief as I could, 
concerning what you propounded unto me; and bless the 
Lord that you ministered occasion to look into the text. 
However we are set apart as a forlorn people in the eyes 
of and by the world, yet doubt I not, but our God has singled 
us out for other ends and uses, who hath put us into the 
Isle of Patmos, or among the nation of the dead, or deadly, 
(as the word signifies) to reveal unto us the great mysteries 
of his kingdom, that we may declare unto those that now 
be here, how to have their hope in God, and that it may be 
told unto our children's children, that noble work that he 
hath wrought for us, in our Lord Christ, who is over all., 
God blessed forever. Amen. 

Your loving husband, in bonds, and yet free, 

SAMUEL GORTON. 

A POSTSCRIPT. 

Divers letters were written to friends, in answer to ques- 
tions, and resolutions of scriptures, which now are not at 
hand ; otherwise we are very free to publish them, to be seen 
of all, that the wise hearted might judge of what our spir- 
its and practices relished, and how they were employed in 
the time of our durance amongst these men, that were so ea- 



179 

gerly minded to make us blasphemers, that so tlicy might 
take away our lives, as a part of the glory, and beautifica- 
tion of their religion. 

Only we desire the reader's pains, to take a view of one 
other letter, in answer to a friend who seemed to be troub- 
led about that s(;riptiire, in John vi. 53, what the meaning 
of it might be, desiring resolution therein, since we arrived 
in England. The words are these: "Then Jesus said unto 
them, ' verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye cat the flesh 
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in 
y-ou.' " 

In these words, consider, first, the occasion of them, sec- 
ondly, the sum of them, and thirdly, the parts. 

First fQ,r the sum, it is a divine sentence exclusive of all 
men, from the life and spirit of God, save only such as do 
eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood. 

Secondly, the parts of them, for order sake, are four. 
First the occasion of this sentence, in these words. Then 
Jesus said unto them; secondly, the confirmation of this 
sentence, laid down in these words. Verily, Verily; third- 
ly, the manner of the sentence, contained in these words, 
I say unto you; fourthly, the sentence itself excluding all 
from the life of God, such only excepted, as do eat the flesh 
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood. 

For the first, which is the occasion of this divine sen- 
tence ; that is, the reasonings within themselves, which the 
Jews had in the operations of their natural hearts, upon the 
delivering of this manner of doctrine unto them, even by 
the Son of God himself, implied in this word, (then) look- 
ing back upon the verse immediately going before, from 
which Christ takes occasion to utter this sentence; whence 
we observe, that the word of God takes occasion to utter and 
make itself manifest, even from the natural reasonings, and 
argumentations framed in men's minds; though they are 
not the cause, yet they are the occasion of the manifesta- 
tion of it; even as the truth, righteousness, power and au- 



ISO 

thority that is in God, breedeth occasionally fear, tenor, 
jealousy, and wrath in men's hearts and minds; though 
these excellencies that are in God, are no proper cause 
hereof, but only an occasion without which they would not 
be. For if there was no judge, the malefactor would not 
have terror; even so the very natural reasonings of men's 
hearts, are the occasions of the manifestations of the word 
of God in us, but no proper cause of it, for the cause is 
only in God himself; but without such reasonings and cha- 
racteristical impressions in man's mind, the word of 
God could never have been implanted, written, or translat- 
ed in us, whereby we come to have the augmentations and 
conclusions of sons of God, and not simply or merely of 
creatures, in our minds, being once enlightened by him, who 
is God and the Father of Lights, wherever it appeareth. 
So that the soul of man is of far greater sublimity, and nat- 
ural excellence in its creation, than any other creature un- 
der heaven ever had vouchsafed unto it; so that there is an 
utter impossibility that any creature should receive the im- 
pressions of God, but man alone. 

This is a large field to walk in, for according to the varie- 
ty of the reasonings of the mind of man by nature which is 
set forth in all those ways, wherein men have walked and 
manifested themselves in this present world, such is that 
wonderful Epistle of Jesus Christ in the various writings 
and expressions of it in the souls, hearts, and lives of the 
Saints, that are in the light through Jesus Christ; instance 
in one for all, the spirit of a natural father reasons thus. If 
my child asks bread (to supply nature in the suppressing of 
hunger) 1 cannot put a stone into his mouth, (that were cru- 
elty) but bread, if so be that I have it or can procure it ; if the 
child ask fish, the father cannot put a serpent into his bosom 
to bite and sting him, but somewhat to cure and refresh 
him, if he have it. Now do but change this argument into 
the way of Christ, and let God be the Father, and myself 



181 

tlie child, and then is God, not man, the Father; the bread 
heavenly and not from the earth; the writing, reasoning or 
argument, divine and eternal, not human and temporary ; and 
so the reasonings and dictates of our spirits are translated 
into the arguments and dictates of the spirit of God, and 
the arguments and dictates of the spirit of God, are translat- 
ed into a mind and spirit that speaks the very same things, 
naturally in itself, though only in a way of death, through 
its natural ignorance, that now it speaketh in that way of 
life, through that light and knowledge that is in the Lord; 
and thus, Christ, by sin, condemned sin in the flesh; for by 
those reasonings wherewith we justify ourselves naturally, 
through that ignorance that naturally is in us, by the very 
same arguments and reasonings we condemn ourselves and 
justify the Lord, through that light and knowledge we have 
in him by Jesus Christ. 

2. The second thing to be observed, is the certainty of 
this sentence laid down in the form of an oath. Verily, Verily, 
that is, so it is, or so it shall be, as if he should say Amen, 
Amen, so it is, and so it shall be without alteration or change, 
and in that the word is doubled, it is for the certainty ©f the 
thing, as Joseph said of Pharaoh's dream, and of no less 
certainty is all true exposition and interpretation of holy 
scripture whatever men may dream as Pharaoh did, and 
knew not the meaning of it, and speak at uncertainties, not 
being resolved whether things may come to pass now or 
then, or fall out to be thus, or so in the things of God; for 
the same spirit of truth and certainty that gives the proph- 
ecy, proverb, parable and advice, that records the history, 
or gives sentence divine, must also interpret, expound, and 
declare the meaning thereof, else is the book shut and seal- 
ed up unto us; great folly, therefore, to conclude of certain- 
ty of scripture and of no infalibility in the interpretation 
thereof. For no more than we know the truth of an inter- 
pretation; no more do we know the truth and certainty of 



182 

any history, prophesy, proverb, or parable, which is pro- 
' pounded unto us; but take things upon report, as we do oth- 
er chronologies of this world; having only the traditions of 
men, for the ground of our worship of God. 

The third thing, is the manner of pronunciation of the 
sentence, I say unto you, or as the word is, I say (in) you; 
the word used here, translated, (I say) signifies such a say- 
ing as a judge speaks upon the bench, when he gives sen- 
tence in a cause, upon due proof and evidence, which stands 
fast in law, being irrevocable ; such is the saying and speech 
of Christ, the truth whereof can never be altered: and 
whereas he saith, I say unto you, or as the word is, I say 
(in) you, it signifies, that whatever the saints utter in point 
of religion, it is, and must be the voice of the Son of God, 
and not of themselves; so that as he suffereth in them, else 
can he have no death at all, and then no Saviour, even so 
he speaks in them, or else hath no voice nor language at all, 
and therefore without them, no revealer of the will of his 
Father ; for where Christ is silent, there can be no revelation, 
therefore is he the word, or expression of the Father, and 
what he saith of him, he saith it in them: therefore he saith, 
I say in you, as in that very epistle, or writing, wherein I 
express myself in the Father unto the world, for my Father 
and I are one. 

The fourth thing to be observed is the sentence itself, ex- 
cluding all from the life of God, such only excepted as do 
eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood; where- 
in observe five things briefly ; first, why he is called the 
Son of Man: secondly, what is meant by his flesh and blood 
in this place: thirdly, what we are to understand by eating 
and drinking: fourthly, what is meant by life in this place: 
and, fifthly, how we are to understand, that exception or 
limitation, seeing that of ourselves we are not able to think 
a good thought, how can we then perform such a weighty, 
worthy, and unknown action, that is no less than life itself, 
in the doing of it. 



183 

For the first, viz. Why is he called the Son of Man? 

Ans. Not only, nor properly, because he had a soul and 
a body as all men have, which indeed was good in the cre- 
ation, and so man is called the Son of God. But he is call- 
ed the Son of Man, because he is so produced and brought 
forth, as none can be, but such as proceed of man alone. 
Nor can he be a Saviour, but in way of such production 
and son-ship, for Christ in respect of his death, (without 
which, no Saviour) is brought forth and produced no other 
way, but only in and by man; for there is no death to be 
heard of, in Goo, nor can he bring forth or produce of him- 
self, any thing that is deadly, for he is that fountain of life; 
yea, life itself in the abstract; nor can it be proper or com- 
patible to the Son of God, to be brought forth in his death, 
in any, no, nor in all other creatures in the world, but on- 
ly in man; for as no other creature in the creation was 
made in the image of God, but man alone, so no other crea- 
ture, in regard of degeneration, can bear the image of death 
and hell, but man alone. Therefore it is that Christ is said, 
to descend into the lower-most parts of the earth, for our re- 
demption, or in our redemption, which is wrought in us, or 
in our nature only. Therefore he saith. Thou wilt not leave 
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to 
see corruption: therefore of necessity must he be brought 
forth, in respect of his death, by man alone. 

The second thing to be observed, is. What is meant by 
flesh and blood.'' 

Ans. By flesh in Scripture, sometimes is meant, that which 
our Lord or any of his were never nourished, nor in the least 
refreshed by, and that is the arm of flesh, which is a curse 
to all them that strengthen themselves by it in the things of 
God ; for in that sense shall flesh and blood never inherit the 
kingdom of God; nay, add further, in that sense it is true, 
that if you live after the flesh, it is death, which is to live ac- 
cording to the wisdom, skill, strength, study and forecast, 
about the things of God, that a creature ^merely as he is a 



184 

creature) is able to produce and bring forth, which is to live 
according to the wealth, power and honor of the creature; 
whose godliness is as the flower of grass, that withereth,con- 
sumeth, and is brought to nought; for the best thing that is 
in it (which is his wisdom) is enmity with God, for it is not 
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. But sec- 
ondly, we are to understand by flesh, that weakness, frailty 
and imbecility of man, when he is deprived and laid waste 
in himself of all created glory, which is only then, when 
the spirit of the Lord blows, or breathes upon him; and so 
becomes nothing in himself but weakness and infirmity. 
And in this sense, the prophet saith, JNow the Egyptians 
are men and not God, their horses flesh and not spirit. So 
saith the Psalmist in the same sense, My flesh also resteth 
in hope; that is, my weakness and tired out condition hath 
rest and strength in another, though not in myself; for 
hope that is seen, is no hope: so that my nature aflbrds no 
such thing, but only that nature to which I am united. And 
in another place, Thou art a God that heareth prayers, and 
unto thee shall all flesh come; that is, thou art strength, and 
able to supply abundantly in all things, for thou art God, 
and we bring nothing but weakness and infirmity unto thee, 
for unto thee nothing but flesh comes; and so the Son of 
God is truly said to be made flesh, that is, weak and frail, 
in regard of our nature which he took, or (as a contiuued 
act) takes upon himself. 

Again, by blood is here meant the life, spirit and power 
of the son of God, as he descends from the Father, even as 
the vigour, life and spirit of the creatures runs in the blood 
in the heat thereof; such is the life, spirit, power, virtue and 
vigor of the Son of Man, as he is of the life, descent and 
power of tiie Father from above; and so is God blessed for- 
ever. Amen. In this sense is blood taken by our Apostle, 
where he saith, This is he that came by water and blood; 
that is, by weakness and strength, not by water only, but by 



18;5 

water and blood ; tliat is, not l)y weakness only, but by weak- 
ness and strength, that is vveakness in us, or in our nature, 
but power in God, or in that nature divine; so is he said in 
the like sense, to be crucified in the flesh, but quickened in 
the spirit, and so it is also said, that what the law could not 
do, in that it was weak concerning the flesh, yet the Son of 
God taking upon him that similitude, and by sin condemned 
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law mi'rht be 
fulfilled in us; that is, even as he became flesh in us, so do 
Me become spirit, and life in him, which is the fulfilling and 
perfection of the law. 

The third thing observed is, what it is to oat this flesh, 
and to drink this blood? 

Ans. Is that as it is in the body of a man naturally in 
that respect, even so also it is in that mystical body of 
Christ, spiritually; for if a man should eat or communicate 
in (as the meaning is) only in food for the body, and not 
take in moisture, or drink, for the digestion thereof, it is 
the destruction of the body, because moisture, as well as 
heat, must be maintained, those being the two radical hu- 
mors: else doth the lamp go out, and is extinct; yea, meat 
without moisture doth suffocate, and choke the spirits, to 
the surfeiting of the body, and so becomes the overthrow of 
it, which otherwise would maintain and uphold it. Ao-ain, 
if we should take in only drink without meat, upon which it 
operateth and worketh, then doth the moisture presently 
overflow, to the quenching of the heat; and so breedeth eith- 
er some dropsy in the body, to the sinking and overthrow 
of it in that way, or else it fumeth up into the head, and breeds 
madness and giddiness in the brain, unto all foolish, wan- 
ton and lascivious v.ickedness: Even so it is in that mysti- 
cal body of Christ: And hence it is said (by an elegant al- 
lusion to eating and drinking naturally) that we eat the flesh 
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood; that is, if we eat 
or communicate with that weakness and frailty which is naf- 

K 



180 

urally in man, and which the Son of God assumed and took 
into unity with himself, without alike drinking in or com- 
munication with, that spirit and life wherein he visits us, 
and comes into our nature from on high (even out of the 
bosom of the Father) then do we surfeit and suifocate the 
spirit, and die in ourselves and in our sins; and so also if 
we neglect that weakness that is in us, (as though no such 
thing were) and dream of a high and spiritual estate, 
which doth not arise out of, and is the result (through the 
wisdom of God) of that weakness that is in us, then do we 
either sink in our folly, and become sottish in the things of 
God, being drunk up only with the things of this natural 
life, else are we pufTed up and become giddy in ourselves, 
thinking we know something, when as indeed we know 
nothing as we ought to know, but are merely and vainly 
puffed up in a carnal, aspiring, proud, vain-glorious, and 
fleshly mind. So that to eat the flesh and drink the blood 
of the Son of Man, is to communicate in the things that are 
of Jesus Christ, both as he is God, and as he is man, and 
to hold the unity of strength and weakness, that is, how he 
is made weak in taking our nature, and so carries and 
bears our infirmities away forever, (he being that scape- 
goat, whose office it is so to do.) And also, how our na- 
ture is thereby made strong and mighty, through that 
strength of the Son of God, in whom we find no infirmity, 
but are furnished with his power everlastingly; so that 
death which is naturally in us (as we are the sons of men) 
is swallowed up of that victory and life, which is in him, as 
he is that victorious and eternal Son of God; and without a 
suitable correspondent and harmonious feeding of these two, 
as in one individual subsistence, we cannot have life in us, 
no more than our bodies can be sustained by meat without 
drink, or by drink only without meat; and that is the fourth 
particular, else we cannot have life in us, that is, we can 
have no life, spirit or breathings of the Son of that living 



187 

God in us; for as the bucly without the soul is dead, so also 
the soul without the life, and spirit of the Lord Jesus is dead; 
and as the body lives not without meat and drink, heat and 
moisture, so the soul lives not without conimunicatin"- alike 
in this strength and weakness, or in tliis life and death, 
which is in the Son of God, who dies concerning the flesh, 
but is quickened in the spirit, and the spirit of God pro- 
ceeds ever from these two, whenever it uttereth itself, in 
that lively oracle or speech from ofl' the covering mercy- 
scat, it is ever from between these two cherubim, and nev- 
er speaks evidently, what perilous times are in the last days, 
but only as it proceeds from these twain, that is, from a 
dying unto the flesh, and a being quickened in and living 
unto the spirit, by which life, spirit, or breath, it ever 
preacheth from the days of Noah even until now, both in 
ourselves and by ourselves to others; for as it is a maxim 
that the spirit proceedeth both from the Father and the Son, 
so is it here, for the flesh, or infirmity of Christ is the Fath- 
er, and the spirit or power is the Son, as he is brought forth 
in that way of his death, without which he had never been 
a Saviour, and the spirit or power is the Father, and the 
flesh is the Son, inasmuch as he brings forth life in this 
death, without which he had never been as he is, man, in 
respect of that life, by which he liveth the life of God, nev- 
er to die any more ; so have we eating and drinking made 
one in that w^ay of the faith of the Son of God, without 
which, we cannot live the life of that saint or holy one of 
Israel. 

The fifth particular in this point is, how it can be said, 
that we eat this flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood: 
in which consider two things, first, who are meant in that he 
speaks plurally, except ye eat, &c. Secondly, how we can 
be said to eat and drink in such a high nature, seeing that 
we of ourselves cannot think a good thought, much less per- 
form such an act as this. 



18S 

For the first, who are meant in that he speaks in the 
second person plural, Ye? 

Ans. It is not properly to be understood, as being meant 
of man and man, no not as of saint and saint, but of one 
saint as he consists of a twofold nature, according to that 
faith of the Son of God; so is it. Ye, that is, every one 
that is in Christ, and so through those precious promises, 
or gracious covenant, is made partaker of that nature di- 
vine; yea, whoever is one of those children that have flesh 
and blood, of which the Son of God also took part with them, 
namely, they that are partakers of those two natures by faith, 
that are in Jesus Christ, to every one of those this is spok- 
en, as to such as are eaters and drinkers in this case, for 
Christ as he is God, feeds upon nothing but our infirmities; 
that is, strengthens himself in point of our salvation, with 
nothing but our frailties and imperfections, and so of weak 
becomes strong, yea, of an abject, the Lord of all. For he 
in no case taketh hold on angels, that is, of any power or 
excellency in the creature, to deliver us thereby, but only 
on the seed of Abraham (a pilgrim and stranger in the land) 
he taketh hold; that is, on our weaknesses and imperfec- 
tions, and out of them he brings his own power and strength 
and other food, the Son of God never took into unity, nor 
digested, to gather strength unto himself by. Again, as he 
is man, he drinketh the blood, that is, takes in, or receives 
that bloud, life, spirit and power of God, whereby he is 
enabled to do all things according to the purpose of his will, 
and other drink he never drunk, as he is man: for our poor 
nature is of that vast emptiness, that nothing but the full- 
ness and power of an infinite and all-suflicient God, can 
possibly supply and perfect it, and so there is a complete 
eating and drinking, which is that full satisfaction and nour- 
ishment, that can be found in none, save only in the Son of 
God himself; for it is a weakness of that nature and latitude, 
that nothing can supply and make up but God himself; and 



ISO 

it is a power of that fullness and perfection that can take 
nothing into unity with itself, that may be thought to add 
any thing (no, not in the least) unto that strength and vigor 
that is in God; for then it were not an Almighty power of 
God that saves us. 

And so it is (We) that eat and drink, that is, we, human 
nature and divine; for in eating, the word eats up, and con- 
sumes our infirmities; and so there is a plurality in the act, 
not only of natures in that one act, but of eating also ia 
sundry kinds and ways; for as our infirmities are multiplied 
and that aptitude that is in us to fall, such is the multiplica- 
tion of that restoration which is in that good word of God; 
it is (we) also in drinking, that is, our vast emptiness drinks 
and takes in that fullness, power and spirit, that is in the 
word of God, in which we are expressed and made manifest 
to be the sons and daughters of God ; and in that mutual eat- 
ing and drinking our life, strength and comfort doth consist. 
The fifth particular, how it is said (that we do eat) that 
are not able to do anything; a like answer is to be given to 
this, as to the former: when he saith. Ye, he means not on- 
ly divers men, but he meaneth every one as considered, in 
him, who is not only of man, but also of God; so that if we 
speak of man, separated from the word of God (which hath 
suflicient power in itself) we miss of the meaning, and of the 
mind of God, and so of that communion or eating that is in 
the faith of Jesus Christ; and if we speak of God divided 
and separated from man, we commit the like error, and are in 
the same default; but we must hold and maintain the unity 
of them both, in that way of faith in the Son of Man, then is 
there power and ability in the heavens and the earth, united 
in their operations, to bring forth fruit plentifully; which 
work cannot be done, if either of them were set apart, and 
separated one from the other: So that the word of God is 
made strong through our weakness, that so it may appear 
and make manifest itself: And our weakness appears, and is 



190 

acknowledged through that word orGod, that so all may be 
given unto God, and he may be all in all; so that it is (Ye) 
as man considered, in and with the power and spirit of God, 
in which he is enabled to do all things; and not (Ye) as 
considered one man, in and with another: for so all flesh is 
grass, surely, in that respect the people is vanity. 

S. G. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I. 

Peliiion of some of Providence Colony, to the Government of 
JMassacliuselts, against Gorton and others. 

Providence, this 17th of November, Anno 1641. 

To THE HOXORED GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, TOGETHER 
WITH THE WORSHIPFUL ASSISTANTS AND OUR LOVING 
NEIGHBORS THERE: 

We, the inhabitants of the town abovesaid, having fair 
occasion, counted it meet and necessary to give you true in- 
telligence of the insolent and riotous carriages of Samuel 
Gorton and his company, which came from the island of 
Aquetneck, which continue still as sojourners amongst us, 
together with John Greene and Francis Weston, two which 
have this long time stood in opposition against us, and 
against the fairest and most just and honest ways of pro- 
ceeding in order and government, that we could rightly and 
truly use for the peaceable preservation and quiet subsis- 
tence of ourselves and families, or any that should have 
fair occasion to go out or come in amongst us; also six or 
seven of our townsmen, which were in peaceable covenants 
with us, which now by their declamations, do cut themselves 
off from us, and jointly under their hands have openly pro- 
claimed to take party with the aforenamed companies, and so 
intend, for aught we can gather, to have no manner of hon- 
est order or government, either over them or amongst them, 
as their writings, words and actions do most plainly shew. 
It would be tedious to relate the numberless number of their 
upbraiding taunts, assaults and threats, and violent kind of 
carriage, daily practised against all, that either with care 
or counsel, seek to prevent or withstand their lewd, licen- 



192 

tlous courses. Yet, in brief, to commit some few of them to 
your moderate judgments, lest we, ourselves, should be 
deemed some way blinded in the occurrences of things, 
here is a true copy of their writing enclosed, which Francis 
Weston gave us, the 13th of this present month; they hav- 
ing also set up a copy of the same on a tree in the 
street, instead of satisfaction for fifteen pounds, which by 
way of arbitration, eight men, orderly chosen, and all caus- 
es and reasons that could be found, duly and truly examin- 
ed and considered jointly together, and he the said Francis 
Weston, was found liable to pay or make satisfaction in cat- 
tle or commodities. But on the 15th day of this present 
month, when we went orderly, openly, and in warrantable 
way, to attach some of the said Francis Weston's cattle, to 
drive them to the pound, to make him, if it were possible, to 
make satisfaction, which Samuel Gorton and his company 
getting notice of, came and quarrelled with us in the street, 
and made a tumultuous hubbub; and although for our parts 
we had before-hand, most principally armed ourselves with 
patience, peaceably to suiter as much injury as could possi- 
bly be borne, to avoid all shedding of blood, yet some few 
drops of blood were shed on either side; and after the tu- 
mult was partly appeased, and that we went on, orderly, in- 
to the cornfield, to drive the said cattle, the said Francis 
Weston came furiously running with a flail in his hand, and 
cried out, "Help Sirs, Help Sirs; they are going to steal my 
cattle," and so continued crying, till Randall Holden, John 
Greene, and some others came, running, and made a great 
outcry, and hallooing and crying "Thieves, Thieves, Steal- 
ing Cattle, Stealing Cattle;" and so the whole number of 
their desperate company came riotously running, and so 
with much striving in driving, hurried away the cattle, and 
then presumptuously answered they had made a rescue, 
and that such should be their practice, if any men, at any 
time, in any case, attach anything that is theirs. And ful- 
ly to relate the least part of their such like words and ac- 
tions, the time and paper would scarce be profitably spent; 
neither need we advise your discretions, what is likely to be 
the sad events of these disorders, if their bloody currents be 
not either stopped, or turned some other way. For it is 
plain to us, that if men should continue to resist all manner 
of order and orderly answering one of another in different 
causes, they will suddenly practice not only cunningly to 



19:3 

detain things frnin anoflior; but openly, in public, justly 
or unjustly, according to their own wills, disorderly take 
what they can come by; llrst pleading necessity, or to main- 
tain wife and family; but afterwards, boldly, to maintain li- 
centious lusts, like savage brute beasts, they will put no 
manner of difference between houses, goods, lands, lives, 
blood nor any thing will be precious in their eyes. If it 
may, therefore, please you, of gentle courtesy, and for the 
preservation of humanity and mankind, to consider our con- 
dition, and lend us a neighborlike helping hand, and send 
us such assistance, our necessity urges us to be troublesome 
unto you, to help us to bring them to satisftiction, and ease 
us of our burthen of them at your discretion; we shall ever- 
more own it as a deed of great charity, and take very thank- 
fully, and diligently labor in the best measure we can, and 
constantly practise to requite your loving kindness, if you 
should have occasion to command us or any of us in any 
lawful design. And if it shall please you to send us any 
speedy answer, we shall take it very kindly, and be ready 
and willing to satisfy the messenger; and ever remain your 
loving neighbors and respective friends. 

WILLIAM FIELD, 
WILLIAM HARRIS, 
WILLIAM CARPENTER, 
WILLIAM WICKENDEN, 
WILLIAM REYNOLDS, 
THOMAS HARRIS, 
THOMAS-f HOPKINSS mark. 
HUGH BEWITT, 
JOSHUA WINSOR, 
BENEDICT ARNOLD, 
WILLIAM MAN, 
WILLIAM W. HUNKINGES, 
ROBERT R. WEST. 
To the much honored Governor of Massachusetts Pa- 
tent, and to the rest of the worshipful Assistants 
there, these be delivered, carefully, we pray. 

[Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections.] 

[The Editors of the 1st vol. 3d series, Mass. His. Collec- 
tion, say, "Perhaps the readiness felt bj our friends in 
Rhode-Island to denounce the proceedings of the Massa- 
chusetts Colonv towards the planters of Warwick, which 



194 

were indeed arbitrary in no small degree, may be some- 
what blunted by this address, that proves the complaint 
against Gorton and his associates, to have been first pre- 
ferred from Providence." 

The answer to this address, as given in Sav, Wint. vol. 
2d, p. 69, clearly shews that none of the proceedings of the 
Massachusetts Colony, either arose from it, or had any ref- 
erence to it. " We answered them," says Winlhrop, "that 
we could not levy any war, &c. without a General Court. 
For counsel, we told them, that except they did submit 
themselves to some jurisdiction, either Plymouth or ours, 
we had no calling or warrant to interpose in their conten- 
tions; but if they were once subject to any, then we had a 
calling to protect them." The first warrant or summons to 
the planters of Warwick, does not bear date, until October 
in the following year; it does not mention this address, but 
refers alone, to the injuries done to the English who had 
submitted themselves and hinds to Massachusetts, to wit, 
William Arnold, Benedict Arnold, Robert Coles and Wil- 
liam Carpenter. 

But admitting that the proceedings of Massachusetts 
originated from this address, will this afford even a palliation 
for them? The colony at Providence was beyond their 
bounds and jurisdiction, and its Government was independ- 
ent of both Massachusetts and Plymouth. The address 
was not an act of the Government; it is not in the name of 
the Government; it was not, nor does it pretend to be an 
act of a majority of the colonists; but it was an address 
from a few individuals, called by Winlhrop, '* the weaker 
party," who had consented to be governed by the majority,, 
to a neighboring Government, to interfere in the internal 
regulations of that colony, and overthrow the acts of the ma- 
jority. Exactly parallel would the case be, if the minority, 
on any question in the State of Khode-Island, should send a 
petition to the Government of Massachusetts, requesting 
their aid in enforcing their opinions; the answer to which 
would still be, that they " had no calling or warrant to in- 
terpose "] 



111.5 



No. II. 



Order of Commissioners of Foreign Plantations, relative to 
Gorton and his Company. 

After our hearty commendations, we l)cing specially en- 
trusted by both Houses of Parliament with ordering the af- 
fairs and government of the English plantations in America, 
have some months since received a complaint from Mr. 
Gorton and INIr. Holden, in the name of themselves and 
divers others English, who have transported themselves in- 
to New England, and now are or lately were inhabitants of 
a tract of land called by the name of the Narragansett Bay, 
(a copy of which complaint the inclosed petition and narra- 
tive will represent to your knowledge,) we could not forth- 
with proceed to a full hearing and determination of the mat- 
ter, it not appearing unto us, that you were acquainted with 
the particular charge, or that you had furnished any person 
with power to make defence in your behalf, nor could we 
conveniently respite some kind of resolution therein with- 
out a great prejudice to the petitioners, who would have lain 
under much inconvenience, if we had detained them from 
their familie-? till all the formality and circumstances of pro- 
ceeding (necessary at this distance) had regularly prepared 
the cause for a hearing. We shall therefore let you know 
in the first place, that our present resolution is not grounded 
upon an admittance of the truth of what is charged, we know- 
in<i well, how much God hath honoured your government, 
and believing that your spirits and affairs are acted by prin- 
ciples of justice, prudence and zeal to God, and therefore 
cannot easily receive any evil impressions concerning your 
proceedings. In the next place, you may take notice, that 
we found the petitioners' aim and desire, in the result of it, 
was not so much a reparation for what past, as a settling 
their habitation for the future under that government by a 
charter of civil incorporation which was heretofore granted 
them by ourselves. We find withal that the tract of land, 
called the Narragansett Bay, (concerning which the ques- 
tion is arisen,) was divers years since inhabited by those of 
Providence, Portsmouth and Newport, who are interested 



IDG 

lu the complaint, uud that the same is whully without the 
bounds of the Massachusetts patent granted by his majesty. 
We have considered that they be English, and that the forc- 
ing of them to find out new places of residence will be very 
chargeable, difficult and uncertain. 

And therefore upon the whole matter do hereby pray and 
require you to permit and suffer the petitioners and all the 
late inhabitants of Narragansett Bay, with their families and 
all such as shall hereafter join with them, freely and quietly 
to live and plant upon Shawomet and such other parts of the 
said tract of land within the bounds mentioned in our said 
charter, on which they have formerly planted and lived, 
without extending your jurisdiction to any part thereof, or 
otherwise disquieting them in their consciences or civil 
peace, or interrupting them in their possession, until such 
time as we shall have received your answer to their claim 
in point of title, and you shall thereupon have received our 
further order therein. 

And in case any others, since the petitioners' address to 
England, h^ve taken possession of any part of the lands 
heretofore enjoyed by the petitioners or any their associates, 
you are to cause them which are newly possessed as afore- 
said, to be removed, that this order may be fully performed. 
And till our further order, neither the petitioners are to en- 
large their plantations, nor are any others to be suffered 
to intrude upon any part of the Narragansett Bay. 

And if they shall be found hereafter to abuse this favor, 
by any act tending to disturb your right, we shall express a 
due sense thereof, so as to testify a care of your honour, 
protection, and encouragement. 

In order to the effecting of this resolution, we do also re- 
quire, that you do suffer the said Mr. Gorton, Mr. Holdcn, 
Mr. Greene, and their company, with their goods and nec- 
essaries, to pass through any part of that territory which is 
under your jurisdiction, toward the said tract of land, with- 
out molestation, they demeaning themselves civilly; any 
former sentence of expulsion or otherwise, notwithstand- 
ing. 

We shall only add, that to these orders of ours, we shall 
expect a conformity, not only from yourselves, but from all 
other Governors and Plantations in New-England whom it 
may concern. And so commending you to Goo's gracious 
protection, we rest, your very loving friends. 



!I7 



From llic (jIovernui-in-chiL'l", J>orcl Ailiuirul, and Com- 
missioners tor Foreign Plantations, sitting at West- 
minster, 15 May, 1646. 

WARWICK, Governor and Admi. Jiid. 

NORTHUMBERLAND, 

PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMER\^ 

NOTTINGHAM, 

MANCHESTER, 

FRA. DACRE, 

SAM. VASSALL, 

CORN. HOLLAND, 

WM. WALLER, 

WM, PUREFOY, 

DENNIS BOND, 

GEO. SNELLING, 

BEN. RUDYER. 

[Wiiilliru[)'s Journal.] 



No. III. 



Edward Winsloio's Commission from Massachusetts. 
Massachusetts, in New-England, in America. 
Whereas Samuel Gorton, John Greene, and Randall 
Holden, by petition and declaration exhibited to the Right 
Honorable the Earl of Warwick, Governor-in-chief, and 
Commissioners for Foreign Plantations, as members of the 
High Court of Parliament, have charged divers false and 
scandalous matters against us, whereof their Honors have 
been pleased to give us notice, and do expect our answer for 
clearing the same; we therefore, the Governor and Company 
of the ^Massachusetts aforesaid, assembled in our General 
Court, being careful to give all due respect to his Lordship 
and the Honorable Commissioners, and having good assur- 
ance of the wisdom and faithfulness of you, our worthy and 
loving friend, JNIr. Edward Winslow, do hereby give power 
and commission to you to appear before his Lordship and 
Commissioners, and presenting our most humble duty and 
service to their Honors, for us and in our name to exhibit 
our humble remonstrance and petition, in way of answei to 
the said false and unjust charge of the said Gorton, Sic. and 
by the same and other writings and instructions delivered to 



198 

you under the hand of Mr. Increase Nowell our Secretary, 
to inform their Honors of the truth and reason of all our 
proceedings with the said Gorton, &c. so as our innocency 
and the justice of our proceedings may appear to their Hon- 
ors' satisfaction. And if any other complaints, in any kind, 
have been, or shall be, made against us, before the said 
Commissioners, or before the High Court of Parliament, 
you have hereby like power and commission to answer on 
our behalf, according to your instructions. And we hum- 
bly crave of the High Court of Parliament and of the hon- 
orable Commissioners, that they will vouchsafe our said 
Commissioner free liberty of seasonable access, as occasion 
shall require, and a favorable hearing, with such credit to 
such writings as he shall present in our name, under the 
hand of our said Secretary, as if we had presented them in 
person, upon that faith and credit, which we would not wit- 
tingly violate, for all worldly advantages; and that our said 
Commissioner may find such speed and despatch, and may 
be under such safe protection, in his stay and return, as 
that honorable Court useth to afford to their humble subjects 
and servants in like cases. In testimony hereof we have 
caused our common seal to be hereunto affixed. Dated this 
4 (10) 1646. 

By order of the Court. 

INCREASE NOWELL, Secretary. 
JOHN WINTHROP, Governor. 

[Winthrop's Journal.] 



No. IV. 



Jlnswer of Massacliusells to Gorton^ s Memorial to the Commis- 
sioners of Foreign Plantations. 
To THE Right Honorable Robert, Earl of Warwick, 

GoVERNOR-IN-CHlEF, LoRD AdMIRAL, AND THE OTHER 

Lords and Gentlemen, Commissioners for Foreign 
Plantations, the humble Remonstrance and Peti- 
tion OF THE Governor and Company of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay, in New-England, in America: 
In way of answer to the petition and declaration of Sam- 
uel Gorton, &.c. 

Whereas, by virtue of His Majesty's charter, granted to 
your petitioners in the fourth year of His Highness's reign, 



199 

we were incorporated into a body politic, with divers liber- 
ties and privileges extending to that part of New England 
where we now inhabit; we do acknowledge (as we have al- 
ways done, and as in duty we are bound) that, although we 
are removed out of our native country, yet we still have de- 
pendence upon that State, and owe allegiance and subjec- 
tion thereunto, according to our charter; and accordingly 
we have mourned and rejoiced therewith, and have held 
friends and eneniies in common with it, in all the changes 
which have befallen it. Our care and endeavour also hath 
been to frame our government and administrations to the 
fundamental rules thereof, so far as the diflerent condition 
of tliis place and people, and the best light we have from the 
word of God will allow. And whereas, by order from your 
Honors, dated May 15, 1646, we find that your Honors 
have still that good opinion of us, as not to credit what hath 
been informed against us before we be heard, we render 
humble thanks to your Honors for the same; yet forasmuch 
as our answer to the information of the said Gorton, Stc. is 
expected, and something also required of us, which (in all 
humble submission) we conceive may be prejudicial to the 
liberties granted us by the said charter, and to our well be- 
ing in this remote part of the world, (under the comfort 
whereof, through the blessing of the Lord, His Majesty's 
favor, and the special care and bounty of the High Court 
of Parliament, we have lived in peace and prosperity these 
seventeen years,) our humble petition (in the first place) is, 
that our present and future conformity to your orders and 
directions may be accepted with a salvo jure, that when 
times may be changed, (tor all things here below are sub- 
ject to vanity,) and other Princes or Parliaments|may arise, 
the generations succeeding may not have cause to lament, 
and say, England sent our fathers forth with happy liber- 
ties, which they enjoyed many years, notwithstanding all 
the enmity and opposition of the prelacy, and other potent 
adversaries, how came we then to lose them, under the fa- 
vor and protection of that State, in such a season, when 
England itself recovered its own? In freto viximus, in portu 
morimur. But we confide in your Honors' justice, wisdom, 
and goodness, that our posterity shall have cause to rejoice 
under the fruit and shelter thereof, as ourselves and many 
others do; and therefore we are bold to represent to your 
Honors our apprehensions, whereupon we Iiavo thus pre- 
sumed to petition vnu in this behalf. 



200 

It appears to us, by the said order, that we arc conceived, 
1st, to have transgressed our limits, by sending soldiers to 
fetch in Gorton, kc. out of Shawomet in the Narragansett 
Bay; 2d, that we have either exceeded or abused our au- 
thority, in banishing them out of our jurisdiction, when (hey 
were in our power. For the first, we humbly crave (for 
your better satisfaction) that your Honors will be pleased 
to peruse what we have delivered to the care of Mr. Ed- 
ward Winslow, our agent or commissioner, (whom we have 
sent on purpose to attend your Honors,) concerning our 
proceedings in that affair and the grounds thereof, which 
are truly and faithfully reported, and the letters of the said 
Gorton and his company, and other letters concerning them, 
faithfully copied out, (not verbatim only, but even literatim, 
according to their own bad English.) The originals we 
have by us, and had sent them, but for casualty of the seas. 
Thereby it will appear what the men are, and how unwor- 
thy your favor. Thereby also will appear the wrongs and 
provocations we received from them, and our long patience 
towards them, till they became our professed enemies, 
wrought us disturbance, and attempted our ruin. In which 
case, our charter (as we conceive) gives us full power to 
deal with them as enemies by force of arms, they being then 
in such place where we could have no right from them by 
civil justice ; which the Commissioners for the United Col- 
onies finding, and the necessity of calling them to account, 
left the business [to us] to do. 

For the other particular in your Honors' order, viz. the 
banishment of Gorton, &.c. as we are assured, upon good 
grounds, that our sentence upon them was less than their 
deserving, so (as we conceive) we had sufficient authority, 
by our charter, to inflict the same; having full and absolute 
power and authority to punish, pardon, rule, govern, Jcc. 
granted us therein. 

Now, by occasion of the said order, those of Gorton's 
company begin to lift up their heads and speak their pleas- 
ures of us, threatening the poor Indians also, who (to avoid 
their tyranny) had submitted themselves and their lands un- 
der our protection and government; and divers other Sa- 
chems, following their example, have done the like, and 
some of them brought (by the labor of one of our elders, ]Mr. 
John Eliot, who hath obtained to preach to them in their 
own language.) to good forwardness in embracing the ffos- 



201 

pel of God in Cluist Josiis. All wliith hopeful beginnings 
;ire like to be dashed, if Gorton, S^c. shall be countenanced 
and upheld against them and us, which also will endanger 
our peace here at home. For some among ourselves (men 
of unquiet spirits, aflccting rule and innovation) have taken 
boldness to prefer scandalous and seditious petitions for 
such liberties as neither our charter, nor reason or religion 
will allow; and being called before us in open court, to give 
account of their miscarriage therein, they have threatened 
us with your Honors' autliority, and (before they knew 
whether we would proceed to any sentence against them, 
or not) have refused to answer, but appealed to your Hon- 
ors. The copy of their petition, and our declaration thereup- 
on, our said Commissioner hath ready to present to you, when 
your leisure shall permit to hear them. Their appeals we 
have not admitted, being assured, that they cannot stand 
with the liberty and power granted us by our charter, nor 
will be allowed by your Honors, who well know it would be 
destructi\e to all government, both in the honor and also in 
the power of it, if it should be in the liberty of delinquents 
to evade the sentence of justice, and force us, by appeal, 
to follow them into England, where the evidence and cir- 
cumstances of facts cannot be so clearly held forth as in their 
proper place; besides the insupportable charges we must 
be at, in the prosecution thereof These considerations are 
not new to your Honours and the High Courtof Parliament, 
the records whereof bear witness of the wisdom and faithful- 
ness of our ancestors in that great council, who, in those 
times of darkness, when they acknowledged a supremacy in 
the bishops of Rome in all causes ecclesiastical, yet would 
not allow appeals to Rome Sec. to remove causes out of the 
courts in England. 

Beside, (though we shall readily admit, that the wisdom 
and experience of that great council, and of your Honors as 
a part thereof, are far more able to prescribe rules of gov- 
ernment, and to judge of causes, than such poor rustics as a 
wilderness can breed up, yet,) considering the vast dis- 
tance between England and these parts, {^which usually 
abates the virtue of the strongest influences,) your counsels 
and judgments could neither be so well grounded, nor sa 
seasonably applied, as might either be so useful to us, or so 
s-ate for yourselves, in your discharge, in the great dav of 
account, for any miscarriage which might befal us, while 

r. 



202 

we depended upon your counsel and help, which could not 
seasonably be administered to us. Whereas if any such 
should befal us, when we have the government in our own 
hands, the State of England shall not answer for it. In 
consideration of the premises, our humble petition to your 
Honors, (in the next place,) is, that you will be pleased to 
continue your favorable aspect upon these poor infant plan- 
tations, that we may still rejoice and bless our God under 
your shadow, and be there still nourished (tanqucim calore 
et rore coelesti;) and while God owns us for a people of his, 
he will own our poor prayers for you, and your goodness to- 
wards us, for an abundant recompense. And this in spe- 
cial, if you shall please to pass by any failings you may have 
observed in our course, to confirm our liberties, granted to 
us by charter, by leaving delinquents to our just proceed- 
ings, and discountenancing our enemies and disturbers cf 
our peace, or such as molest our people there, upon pre- 
tence of injustice. Thus craving pardon, if we have pre- 
sumed too far upon your Honors' patience, and expecting 
a gracious testimony of your wonted favor by this our 
agent, which shall further oblige us and our posterity in all 
humble and faithful service to the high Court of Parliament 
and to your Honors, we continue our earnest prayers for 
your posterity forever. 

By order of the General Court. 
(10) '46. INCREASE NOWELL, Secretary. 

JOHN WINTHROP, Governor. 

[Winthrop's Journal.} 



No. V. 

Gov. Winthrop^s Jiccounl of the result of IVinslow's Mission to. 
England. 

Mr. Winslow set sail from Boston about the middle of 
lOber, 1646, and carried such commissions, instructions, 
&c. as are before mentioned. Upon his arrival in England, 
and delivery of his letters to the Earl of Warwick, Sir Hen- 
ry Vane, &c. from the Governor, he had a day appointed 
for audience before the Committee, and Gorton and other 
of his company appeared also to justify their petition and 
information, which they had formerly exhibited against the 



203 

Court, Sec. for making war upon tliein, and kcephi"'- them 
prisoners, &c. But after that our agent liad showed the 
iwo letters tlioy wrote to us from Shawomet, and the testi- 
mony of the Court, and some of the ehlers, concerning their 
bUisphcmous heresies and other miscarriages, it pleased the 
J.ord to bring about the hearts of the Coimnittecs, so as 
they discerned of Gorton, Sec. what they were, and of the 
justice of our proceedings against them ; only they were not 
satisfied in this, that they were not within our jurisdiction, 
Sec. to which our agent pleaded two things, 1st, that they 
were within the jurisdiction of Plymouth or Connecticut, 
and so the orders of the Commissioners of the United Colo- 
nies had left them to us; 2d, the Indians (upon whose lands 
they dwelt) had subjected themselves and their land to our 
government. Whereupon the committee made this order 
following, which they directed in form of a letter to Massa- 
chusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut, (one to each) viz. 

After our hearty commendations. 

In our hite letter of 25 May Stc. we imparted how far we 
had proceeded upon the petition of Mr. Gorton and Mr. 
llolden Stc. We did by our said letter declare our tender- 
ness of your just privileges, and of preserving entire the au- 
thority and jurisdiction of the several governments in New 
England, whereof we shall still express our continued care. 
We have since that, taken further consideration of the peti- 
tion, and spent some time in hearing both parties, concerning 
the bounds of those patents under which yourselves and the 
other governments do claim, to the end we might receive 
satisfaction, whether Shawomet and the rest of the tract of 
land,pretendedtoby the petitioners, be actually included with- 
in any of your limits. In which point (being matter of fact) 
we could not, at this distance, give a resolution, and there- 
fore leave that matter to be examined and determined upon 
the place, if there shall be occasion, for that the boundaries 
will be [here best known and distinguished. And if it shall 
appear, that the said tract is within the limits of any of the 
New England patents, we shall leave the same, and the in- 
habitants thereof to the proper jurisdiction of that govern- 
ment under w^iich they fall. Nevertheless, for that the pe- 
titioners have transplanted their families thither, and there 
settled their residences at a great charge, we commend it to 
the government, witliin whose jurisdiction they shall appear 



to be, (as our only dusire at present in llii^ matter,) not only 
not to remove them IVom their plantations, but also to en- 
courage them, with protection and assistance, in all (it ways; 
provided that they demean themselves peaceably, and not 
endanger any of the English colonies by a prejudicial cor- 
respondency with the Indians, or otherwise; wherein ifthey 
shall be found faulty, we leave them to be proceeded with 
according to justice. To this purpose we have also written 
our letters of this tenour to the governments of iVew Ply- 
mouth and Connecticut, hojjing that a friendly compliance 
will engage these persons to an inoffensive order and con- 
formity, and so become an act of greater conquest, honour 
and contentment to you all, than the scattering or reducing 
of them by an hand of power. And so, not doubting of 
your concurrence with this desire, as there shall be occa- 
sion, we commend you to the grace of Christ, resting 

Your very affectionate friends, 
From the Committee, &c. 22d of July, 1647. 

WARWICK, Governor and Admiral, 

PEMBROKE AND MONTGOMERY, 

MANCHESTER, 

ARTH. HESELRKiE, 

JOHN ROLLE, 

HEN. MILDMAY, 

GEO. FEN WICK, 

WM. PUREFOY, 

RICH. SALWAY, 

MILES CORBET, 

COR. HOLLAND, 

GEO. SNELLING. 
The first letter from the Committee after Mr. Wmslow 
had delivered our petition and remonstrance, which should 
have been inserted before the former. 

After our hearty commendations, &c. 

By our letter of May 15, 1646^ we communicated to you 
our reception of a complaint from Mr. Gorton and Mr. Hol- 
den, &.C. touching some proceedings tried against them by 
your Government. We also imparted to you our resolu- 
tions (grounded upon certain reasons set forth in our said 
letter) for their residing upon Shawomet, and the other 
parts of that tract of land, which is mentioned in a charter 
cf civil incorporation heretofore granted them by us. pray- 



2o:> 

ill" find re<[iiiriiig you to permit tlie same ucc()rclin<;ly, with- 
out extending your jurisdiction to any part thereof, or dis- 
quieting them in tlieir civil peace, or otherwise interrupting 
them in their possession, until we should receive your an- 
swer to the same in point of title, and thereupon give fur- 
ther order. We have since received a petition and remon- 
strance from you by your Commissioner, Mr. Winslow, and 
though we have not yet entered into a particular considera- 
tion of the matter, yet we do, in the general, take notice of 
your respect, as well to the Parliament's authority, as your 
own just privileges; and find cause to be further confirmed 
in our former opinion and knowledge of your prudence and 
faithfulness to God and his cause. And perceiving by your 
petition, that some personsdo take advantage, fromoursaid 
letter, to decline and question your jurisdiction, and to pre- 
tend a general liberty to appeal hither, upon their being 
called in question before you, for matters proper to your 
cognizance, we thought it necessary (for preventing of fur- 
ther inconveniences in this kind) hereby to declare, that we 
intended not thereby to encourage any appeals from your 
justice, nor to restrain the bounds of your jurisdiction to a 
narrower coinpass than is held forth by your letters patent; 
but to leave you witli all that freedom and latitude that may, 
in any respect, be duly claimed by you; knowing that the 
limiting of you in that kind may be very prejudicial (if not 
destructive) to the government and public peace of the col- 
ony. For your further satisfaction wherein, you may re- 
member, that our said resolution took rise from an admit- 
tance, that the Narragansett Bay (the thing in question) 
was wholly without the bounds of your patent, the examina- 
tion whereof will, in the next place, come before us. In 
the mean time, we have received advertisement, that the 
place is within the jiatent of New Plymouth, and that the 
grounds of your proceedings against the complainants was 
a joint authority from the four governments of Massachu- 
setts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New-Haven; which if it 
falls in upon proof, will much alter the state of the question. 
And whereas our said direction extended not only to your- 
selves, but also to all the other governments and plantations 
in New England, whom it might concern, we declare, that 
we intended thereby no prejudice to any of their just rights, 
nor the countenancing of any practice to violate them; and 
that we shall fur the future be very ready to give our en- 



206 



courageinent and assistance in all your endeavours for set- 
tling of your peace and government, and the advancement 
of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to whose blessing we com- 
mend your persons and aftairs. 

Your very loving friends, 
Fromthe Committee of Lords and Commons, Stc. 25th May, 
1647. WARWICK, Governor and Admiral. 

BAS. DENBIGH, 

EDW. MANCHESTER, 

WM. SAY AND SEALE, 

FR. DANA, 

WM. WALLER, 

ARTHUR HESLERIGE, 

Mn.ES CORBET, 

FR. ALLEN, 

WM. PUREFOY, 

GEO. FENWICK, 

COR. HOLLAND. 

[Winthrop's Journal.] 



No. VI. 



Petition of P[^illiam Arnold Sfc. to be dismissed from the Gov- 
ernment of Massachuselts ; and the proceedings thereon. 

Boston, 26 of 3 mo. 1658. 
We, whose names are underwritten, do desire the honor- 
ed assembly of this Court, to give us a full discharge from 
submission to this jurisdiction; as also, all the inhabitants 
of Pawtuxet with us, our lands and estates there. 

Witness our hands, WILLIAM ALNOLD, 

WILLIAM CARPENTER. 
[At the next term of the Court, 1 ofthe4mo. June, 1658, 
the following petition was presented.] 

To THE HONORED CoURT, NOW ASSEMBLED IN BoSTON. 

We, the inhabitants of Pawtuxet, who hereunto subscrib- 
ed, having tbrmerly taken into consideration the occasion 
of trouble between your colony and the government of Prov- 
idence Plantations, with reference to ourselves, for to is- 
sue the said dift'erence and trouble, were willing to consent 
to certain proposals tendered by JMr. Roger Williams to 



207 

your General Court, tending to a dismission from your 
government. This is humbly to signify to this honored 
Court, that as we have done, so do we cniploy and author- 
ize our trusty friend William Arnold to issue the same. 

WILLIAM caiipkntp:r, 

ZACFIARY RHODES, 
STEPHEN ARNOLD, 
BENJAMIN SMITH, 
CHRISTOPHER HAUXHURST, 
RICHARD TOWNSEND. 
I certify that William Carpenter, Zachary Rhodes and 
Stephen Arnold, inhabitants of Pavvtuxet, and Richard 
Townsend, Christoplier Hauxluirst and Benjamin Smith, 
now beginning there to inhabit, subscribed their respective 
names as abovesaid. 

Witness, ROGER WILLIAMS, 

JOHN SHELDON. 

[On the !22d, 8 mo. (October) 1G58, the Court declare 
that they were very ready at the previous session, to grant 
the petition, and waited only for evidence that such was the 
wish of the inhabitants of Pawtuxet; and they add that this 
is now proved to their entire satisfaction. 

Thus ended all the pretences of Massachusetts to juris- 
diction over any of the inhabitants of Providence Planta- 
tions. 

The petitioners however had done the State some service, 
and had suffered in that behalf, for which they sought re- 
dress and satisfaction by the following petition.] 

To THE Honored General Court, now assembled jn 
Boston this 18th day of October, 1659: 
The petition of William Arnold, humbly sheweth, that 
whereas in Anno 1643, that the General Court sent to Mr. 
Richard Calicutt, with commission to seize on the cattle of 
Gorton's company ; the said Calicutt, when he had gotten 
many of their cattle aforesaid into custody, at Pawtuxet, he 
there sold and delivered of the same cattle unto your peti- 
tioner, viz. five yearlings at the price of forty shillings 
apiece, and four calves at twenty shillings apiece, and so 
left them all with your petitioner, in part pay of the charg- 
es or debt that Captain Cooke and his company, a little be- 
fore spent, and left it to pay upon the country's account to 
your petitioner. But of the said young cattle so sold by 



20S 

Mr. Calioult to your petitioner, Francis Weston got away 
one of the yearlings, which was of his cattle, in a short time 
after from your petitioner, which had never any thing for 
it, which was forty shillings loss. 

And about six years after, John Warner compelled your 
petitioner to pay him four pounds, seventeen shillings and 
six-pence for one of the calves abovesaid, so sold by Mr, 
Calicutt, all which costs and damages your petitioner hath 
borne hitherto. And again, about two years agone, John 
Greene, sen. commenced a suit against your petitioner for 
the three calves, so sold as abovesaid, and the said Greene's 
Attorney recovered great costs and damages from your pe- 
titioner for them, in and by the courts of Providence Plan- 
tations. And whereas, by virtue of commission and power 
given from the General Court, in the year abovesaid, the 
20th day of the 8th month thereof, unto your petitioner, and 
others with him, your petitioner and two more of those men- 
tioned in the commission, seized on three calves of the said 
Greene's, to the use of the Country, or General Court, the 
which three calves and their increase have of late been re- 
quired also of your petitioner, by the said Greene, and very 
much trouble your petitioner has been put unto in defence of 
the cause, one way and another, as partly in the courts of 
Providence Plantations, where the plaintifi" followed the 
law, knowing the whole colony was generally against the 
taking away of the cattle of Gorton's company, by any or- 
der from Massachusetts to be served within that place. So 
at one court held at Warwick, in November last, the jury 
there brought m a verdict for the plaintiff, of a hundred and 
fifty pounds damages and costs of court; but upon a review 
of the case, at their next court held in Providence, in the 
first month last past, there the jury brought in a verdict for 
the plaintiff of sixty pounds damages and costs of court, your 
petitioner has been caused to make payment of, to his great 
liindrance. Again, whereas by virtue of the General 
Court's commision abovesaid, your petitioner, and one 
more with him of those that are mentioned upon the said 
commission, found about fourteen head of cattle more at 
Pawtuxet, of the said Greene's, and seized on them for the 
use of the General Court, and were driving them towards 
Massachusetts, the which cattle were rescued by John 
Greene junior; and now the said Greene perceiving how the 
most part of that colony stand affected with them, again.-^t 



209 

Massacliasetts' I'culiiig so with the company of Gorton, he 
<lemanded satislaction of your petitioner, for the seizing 
and driving of the said fourteen head of cattle, &c. that he 
rci^cued ; threatening to commence another suit against your 
petitioner for that act also. But to avoid the damages and 
further charges of that law, which your petitioner had 
so much paid for tiie knowledge of it hefore, your petitioner 
was constrained to put the cause to arbitration. I'he plain- 
tiff, he required forty pounds for his damage; so the arbi- 
trators awarded the pluintiiF ten pounds, to be presently paid 
for the act aforesaid. Thus your petitioner has been very 
much damnified and troubled for the Court's or Country's 
service, which was laid upon him by the General Court. 

The humble desire and request, therefore, is, that this 
honored Court will be pleased to maintain the Court's and 
Country's acts in this cause, and therein to consider the great 
injury and wrong, with troubles, costs and damages, that 
your petitioner hath sustained and been put unto about the 
abovesaid cattle, tiiatyour first commissioner, ]\[r. Calicutt, 
sold and placed upon him, by his authority from the Gene- 
ral Court; as he left them with your petitioner in part pay 
for the country's debt as abovesaid; and he yet left much of 
the debt unpaid to your petitioner and others of Pawtuxet, 
the which is not paid, which is to their great damage, who 
do desire to be paid and satisfied, Sec. 

Also, thehumble desire of your petitioner is further; that 
seeing the General Court did send for him and called him a- 
way from his occasions and employments, unto the said Court, 
and there in the face of the same Court, the Secretary that 
signed the commission abovesaid to your petitioner, and the 
Governor, giving him straight charge with it that your peti- 
tioner should be very careful and diligent to put and to see it 
put into execution, the which charge or command, your peti- 
tioner knew not how to neglect or avoid doing of it, without 
great peril, forseeing the said commission was not limited to a 
time but the words of it are, viz. " to take John Greene and 
his son John, &.c. and that you seize all such cattle of the said 
John Greene, which cannot now be found, as you may here- 
after find, and either send them to us, or keep them safe till 
we can send for them, for all which this shall be your suffic- 
ient discharge;" neither any prohibition given or sent to 
any one of tliem that are mentioned to serve in the said 
commission, to warn them to forbear or to put the said com- 



210 

mission or any part of it in execution, S».c. And therefore, 
your petitioner humbly desireth this honored Court, to 
maintain the Court's acts here, and to make good the prom- 
ise set down in the conclusion of the said commission, viz. 
"for all which, this shall be your sufficient discharge," 
that seeing your petitioners and some others with him, have 
been faithful, careful and dilignnt in discharging their du- 
ty of obeying the Court's command for the country's ser- 
vice, that the great damages, costs and loss, besides the 
many vexations and troubles that your petitioner hath been 
put upon, to travel up and down the country, from place to 
place, the which is well known in your Courts, in defence 
of the cause as well as to other places, may not be suffered 
to rest upon your petitioner, to his great hurt and overthrow; 
but that a conscionable satisfaction may be considered of, 
and made to him, both for the country's debt, and the dam- 
ages and charges abovesaid; and your petitioner shall al- 
ways pray, &c. 

The deputies desire our honored magistrates would please 
to give answer to this petition, in the first place. 

WILLIAM TORREY, Cleric. 

18, (8.) 1659. 

The Committee, having examined this petition, do find, 
that the petitioner being authorized by this Court, to act in 
the behalf of the country, and that his complaints may be 
referred to these two heads: 

1. That on balance of account, there resteth due to him 
seven pounds, live shillings and eight pence. 

2. That such goods as he received in part of satisfaction 
for what he expended by virtue of the said commission, 
have been taken from him, by the inhabitants of that place 
where he lives, with great damages accruing to him thereby. 

Now having considered the grounds of his complaint; in 
answer to the first complaint, we apprehend it is meet that 
his account presented, be perused by INIr. Calicutt, who 
was in commission also for that design; and that in case it 
doth not appear the said debt hath been fully paid, that the 
balance of the said account being perused, and rectified if 
any error appear, be forthwith satisfied out of the country's 
treasury. 

To his second complaint, we find that the said Arnold 
hath since his commission, volunlnrilv left the protection of 



211 

this Court, iiud joined himself with the people of whom he 
complains to be thus wronged; but being honestly paid by 
those that commissionated, we judge it not equal, that this 
Court should make him satisfaction for the wrong that his 
ovvn people have done him; but in case the matter be real, 
and the petitioner doth a[)prohend his cause to be just, he 
may have liberty, by himself or his attorney, legally to 
seize the persons or estates of such as have been actors 
therein, tinding them in this colony, and bring the case to a 
trial in any court of judicature. 

THOMAS DANFORTH, 
ANTHONY STODDARD, 
ROGER CLAP. 
21.8 mo. 1659. 

The Deputies approve of the return of the Committee, in 
answer to this petition, with reference to the consent of our 
honored magistrates hereto. 

WILLIAM TORREY, Cleric. 

-Consented to by the magistrates. 

EDW. RAWSON, Secret. 

[If the petitioners were satisfied with the reasoning of 
the General Court, contained in the foregoing answer to 
their petition, I do not know, that any one else can reason- 
ably find fault with it: it could not but have given satisfac- 
tion to Gorton and his company. 

1 annex a copy of the commission, referred to in the fore- 
going petition, and also a copy of the account, shewing the 
balance claimed to be due.] 

By the General Court. 

Commission and power is hereby given to you, Wm. Ar- 
nold, Benedict Arnold, Wm. Carpenter, Richard Chasmore, 
Christopher Hawksworth and Stephen Arnold, and to all 
and every of you, to apprehend the bodies of John Greene, 
and his son John, Richard Waterman and Nicholas Povver, 
and bring them to Boston, before the Governor or some oth- 
er of the magistrates, to be proceeded with, according to 
justice; and (if need or occasion be,) you may take aid of 
any other English, or of those Indians which are under our 
jurisdiction; and that you seize all such cattle of the said 
John Greene's (which cannot now be found) as you may 
hereafter find; and either send them to us, or keep them 



OtCf 

■a' 1 'W 



safe till we can send for them; for all wliich, this shall be 
your sLitficient discharge. 

Boston, the 20 of the 8th mo. 1643. 

Per Cur. INCREASE NOWELL, Secret. 



October, 1643. 

Captain Cooke and his company left unpaid to me, and 
charged it upon Massachusetts, for the Court's ac- 
count, £15, 18s. lOd. 

I have received of Captain Cooke's charges spent at my 
house, paid me by Mr. Richard Calicutt, item, 5 year- 
lings at 40s. item, 4 calves at 20s, f 14. 
He left unpaid of Captain's charges, and Mr. 
Calicutt 's own and his men's e.\penses to nie, 2 18 8 
There is also due to Mr. Coles, lor the Cap- 
tain's expenses. 

Item to Wm. Carpenter, for labor and time spent. 

Item, to Richard Chasmore fordo, do. do. 

Item, to Christopher Hawkesworth fordo, do. do. 

Sum unpaid is .£8 18 2 

Due me, for time spent for two men to fetch two 
great nets from Shawomet to my house, and 
drying of them; done by Mr. Calicutt's or- 
der, 7 6 

For driving of about 14 head of cattle, of old 
Greene's, that wo seized by virtue of the 
Court's commission, the whole cattle were res- 
cued from us, 1 GO 



3 00 





14 


10 


1 6 


8 


18 


2 



.£] 7 6 

Total, .£10 5 8 

Of which Mr. Cole received 3 calves, that were 

of old Greene's, 3 00 



Rest, £7 5 8 

[Mass. Records.] 



213 



No. ^ ii, 



Exlracls from the jn'occcdings oj the Unilcd Colotdes. 

[Articles of confederation between Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, Ne\v-H;ivea and Plymouth, were proposed May 
19, 1643, and were then executed by all save Plymouth.] 
At the second meeting of the Commissioners, Sept. 7, 
1643, (Boston.) Present: John Wintiirop, President, 
and Thomas Dudley, for IVIassacliusetts; Gf.orge Fen- 
wick and Edward Hopkins for Connecticut; Theophilus 
Eato.x and Thomas Gregson, for IS'ew-Haven; Ed\vard 
AViNSLOw and William Collyer, for Plymouth. 

Whereas complaints have been made against Samuel 
Gorton and his company, and some of them weighty, and of 
great consequence; and whereas the said Gorton and the 
rest have been formerly sent for, and now lately by the Gen- 
eral Court of the INIassachusetts, with a safe conduct both 
for their coming and return, that they might give answer 
and satisfaction, wherein they have done wrong. If yet 
they shall stubbornly refuse, the Commissioners of the Unit- 
ed Colonies think tit, that the magistrates in the Massachu- 
setts proceed against them, according to what they shall 
find just: and the rest of the jurisdictions will approve and 
concur in what shall be so warrantably done, as if their Com- 
missioners had been present at the conclusions; provided 
that this conclusion do not prejudice the Government of Ply- 
mouth in any right they can justly claim unto any tract or 
tracts of land besides that possessed by the English and In- 
dians who have submitted themselves to the Government 
of the Massachusetts. 

M a Meeting, Sept. dfh, 1646, {Mw-Haven.) 
A question being propounded, about the interpretation of 
a passage in the Commissioners' conclusions at Boston, 
1643, the Commissioners for Connecticut and New-Haven, 
jointly, (Mr. Eaton and ]Mr. Hopkins being present at those 
agitations) conceive the sense is clear, that ail tracts or par- 
cels of lands are thereby preserved to the colony of Ply- 
mouth, except that possessed by the English or Indians, 
who had then submitted to the jMassachusetts, but upon 
what ground? il was done, unless to case Plymouth of 



214 

•chcUgc ia Gorton's business, or for that they thought the 
land questionable, or of small value, is not now remem- 
bered. 

Al a Meeting, Scpicmher, lih, 1648, {Pltjmoulh.) 
Whereas there was presented a writing unto us, from the 
town or plantation of VVarwick, as they call it, by their mes- 
sengers, Mr. Randall Holden and Mr. John Warner, sub- 
scribed by Mr. John Smith, Assistant, in the behalf of the 
whole town, dated the 4th of the 7th month, 1648, wherein 
they complain, amongst other things, of divers injuries, in- 
solencies to them, as namely, killing their cattle, about a 
hundred hogs, abusing their servants when they take them 
alone, and sometimes making violent entrance into their 
houses and striking the masters' thereof, stealing and pur- 
loining their goods; and hereupon do earnestly desire to 
know the minds of the Commissioners herein, and to receive 
advice from them; whereupon the Commissioners, for their 
future security, gave them the ensuing writing: 

To ALL Indian Sacheims whom it may concern, inhabit- 
ing WITHIN THE NaRRAGANSETT BaY AND PLACES ADJA- 
CENT: 

The Commissioners for the United Colonies of New-Eng- 
land, having received information of several outrages com- 
mitted upon the persons and cattle of the English, in sev- 
eral places, cannot but look upon such practices, as tending 
to the disturbance of the public peace; and, therefore, ad- 
vise, that due care may bo taken by the several Sachems, 
and all others whom it concerns, to prevent and abstain 
from all such miscarriages for the future, and if any of them 
receive any injury from the English, upon complaint indue 
place and order, satisfaction shall be endeavored them, ac- 
cording to justice, as the like will be expected from them. 

Plymouth, the 10th of the 7th month, 1648. 

Al a Meeting Extraordlnartj, ^3d July, 1649, (Boston.) 
A letter being presented to the Commissioners from the 

town of Warwick, the ensuing answer was returned by the 

same messenger: 

We received a letter from you, on the 26th of this present, 

wherein you propound several injuries offered to you by the 

Indians, and desire to be informed, whether we have not re- 



*«/ 1 1/ 

ceivcJ an injunction from the Parliament in England, to act 
in your defence. To which we briefly answer, that no such 
thing hath hitherto been commended hence to the Conjmia- 
sioners of the Colonies, in your behalf, nor l)y you can ra- 
tionally be expected from us in the state wherein you now 
stand: but we shall be ready to attend their late direction 
as any opportunity is presented to find under what colony 
vour plantation dotli fall; and then in future proceedings, 
both with the English and Indians, endeavor to act accord- 
ing to rules of truth and righteousness. 
JJoston, July 31st, 1649. 

Upon a question betwixt the two colonies of the Massa- 
chusetts and Plymouth, formerly propounded and now again 
renewed by the Commissioners of the JVIassachusetts, con- 
cerning a tract of land, now or lately belonging to Pomham 
and Saccononoco, two Ii.dian Sagamores, who had submit- 
ted themselves and their people to the IMassachusetts Gov- 
ernment, upon part of which land, some English (besides 
the said Indians) in Anno, 1643, were planted and settled: 
The Commissioners for Connecticut and iS'ew- Haven, re- 
membering and duly considering what had passed in Anno, 
1643, and in Anno, 1646, did and do still conceive, that the 
Commissioners for Plymouth did consent and agree that 
the aforesaid tract of land, though it fall within Plymouth 
bounds, sliould be and from thenceforward acknowledged as 
a part and under the INIassachusetts' jurisdiction; nor doth 
it yet appear, that Plymouth, when those conclusions of the 
Commissioners, Anno, 1643, were read in the General. 
Court, did protest, or doth declare against it, that the Mas- 
sachusetts might have considered their way before they ex- 
pended so much charge in Samuel Gorton's business. But 
what direction, counsel and order, Plymouth Commissioners 
had from their General Court so to do, we understand not; 
and what power any of the Commissioners have to resign or 
pass over any tract of land within their patent to another ju- 
risdiction, without consent and exjjress license from the 
General Court interested and concerned therein, is of 
weighty consideration to all the colonies. They therefore 
advise and desire, that, by a neighborly and friendly treaty, 
a due consideration may be had, and a course settled, both 
about the charges expended, and how Pomham and Saccon- 
onoco witli their people, may lie governed and protected. 



2U) 

Al u JMciiiiig Sept. o, 1G50, [^Jlurlford.) 
The Commissioners for the Massachusetts, informed tlie 
Commissioners for Connecticut and New-Haven, how far 
they had proceeded according to advice given at their last 
meeting at Boston, to issue the difterence betwixt them- 
selves and Plymouth, concerning a tract of land lately be- 
longing to Pomham and Saccononoco, two Indian Sachems; 
that the General Court for the JMassachusetts had by their 
Commissioners, first offered to resign their interest in the 
aforesaid lands and appurtenances to Plymouth, if they 
would engage to protect and to administer justice equally 
both to Indians and English within those limits; but that 
Plymouth colony had rather chosen to pass over their right 
by patent, and had resigned the said tract of land, &c. and 
left them forever, under the Government of the Massachu- 
setts. 

They informed also, with what tenderness and forbear- 
ance they had since dealt with Samuel Gorton and his com- 
pany, though sundry and great complaints had been made 
and renewed against them, not only by the Indians, but by 
the neighboring English under the Massachusetts Govern- 
ment. They shewed also a letter from ]Mr. Easton, Presi- 
dent of Rhode-Island, wherein, in the name of the Council 
there, he declareth, that Rhode-Island and Warwick (where 
the said Gorton liveth) are combined, and bound mutually 
to support one another. They desired, therefore, advice 
from the rest of the Commissioners, how they might further 
proceed; since upon trial they find, that without a legal 
force, they can neither redress injuries, nor bring the in- 
habitants of Warwick to acknowledge and submit to their 
government. 

The Commissioners, remembering what advice had been 
given by the Honorable Committee of Parliament in this 
and like ca^es, that the bounds of patents should be first set 
out by a jury of uninterested persons, and that all inliabiting 
within the limits so set forth, should fall under the Govern- 
ment established by patent; and understanding that the 
forementioned resignation maile by Plymouth, was not with 
full consent and satisfaction to all the freemen of that juris- 
diction, and without any agreement or consent of the inhab- 
itants of Warwick, who pretend an interest in Mr. Williams 
his patent, but will by no peaceable means be brought un- 
der (ho ^T:i.-snrliusetts Government; and being desirous, as 



217 

much as may be, to provf.uit inconvenience, and by all diiR 
means to preserve and settle peace within and betwixt the 
Colonies, and wiih all neij^hbors, according to the rules ot" 
righteousness and prudence, thought lit to recommend, both 
to the Massachusetts and Plymouth, as their most serious 
advice, that the JMassachusetts, upon the aforementioned 
respects, do acquit and (orever relinquish the right and ti- 
tle they have to the lands of Poniham and Saccononoco 
aforesaid, and the jurisdiction thereunto belonging; and 
that Plymouth do forthwitli re-assumc the right they former- 
ly had by patent to the place; that they engage and prom- 
ise a.due protection and equal administration of justice to 
all the iniiabitants, English and Indians, according to the 
JMassachusetts' engagement, and that all fair means be, with 
the fust coveniancy, used to reduce Warwick, &c. to a due 
submission to the government of Plymouth ; that justice may 
have a free course, and all grievances betwixt them and 
their neighbors, may be satisfied and removed. J3utif they 
refuse, that then, the just and wholesome advice of the 
Honorable Committee of Parliament, concerning a jury, be 
forthwith duly attended, that the inhabitants of Warwick 
may know where they fall, and to what Government they 
ought to submit. But if Plymouth accept not this advice; 
or if the said inhabitants prove obstinate, and will neither 
submit to government, nor by other means, make due satis- 
faction for trespasses, for wrongs done to neighbors, justice 
must have its course. The Massachusetts or Plymouth, 
whom it may concern, cannot but protect and provide for 
the conveniences of those within their jurisdiction; in such 
case we think it necessary and advise, that real damages, 
duly proved, be levied by legal force; though with as much 
moderation and tenderness, as the case will permit. 

At a Mecling Sept. 4, 1651, {JYeiv-Haven.) 
The following letter was presented from the inhabitants 
of Warwick: 

M.\.Y it please this honored Committee to take knowledge, 
that we, the inhabitants of Shawoniet, alias Warwick, hav- 
ing undergone divers oppressions and wrongs, amounting to 
great damage, since we first possessed this place, being 
forced thereby to seek to that honorable State of Old Eng- 
land for relief, which did inevitably draw great charge upon 
us, to the further impairing of our estates; and finding 



218 

favor for redress, we were willing to waive for that time, 
(in regard of tlie great troubles and employment that then 
lay on that State,) all hoter losses and wrongs, we then un- 
derwent, so that we might be re-planted in and upon that our 
purchased possession, and enjoy it peaceably, for time to 
come, without disturbance or molestation by those from 
whom we had formerly suffered; but, since our gracious 
grant from the Honorable Parliament, in re-planting of us 
in this place, we have been, and daily are, pressed with in- 
tolerable grievances, to the eating up of our labors and the 
wasting of our estates, making our lives, together with our 
wives' and children's bitter and uncomfortable; inson^A1ch, 
that groaning under our burdens, we are constrained to 
make our addresses to that Honorable Parliament and State, 
once again, to make our just complaint against our cause- 
less molesters, who, by themselves and their agents, are 
the only cause of this our re-uttering of our distressed con-^ 
dition: May it please therefore, this honored assembly, to 
take notice of this our solemn intelligence, given unto you 
as the most public authorized society appertaining unto, and 
instituted in the United Colonies, whom our complaints do 
concern, that we are now preparing ourselves, with all con- 
venient speed, for old England, to make our grievances 
known again to that State, which fall upon us by reason that 
the order of Parliament of England concerning us, hath not 
been observed, nor the enjoyment of our granted privileges 
permitted to us: That we are, as it were, bought and sold, 
from one patent and jurisdiction to another. 

In that, we have been prohibited and charged to quit this 
place, since the order of Parliament given out and known to 
the contrary. 

In that, we have had warrants sent us, to summon us to 
the Massachusetts court, and officers employed amongst us, 
to that purpose. 

In that, these barbarous Indians about us, with evil mind- 
ed English mixed amongst us, under pretence of some for- 
mer personal subjection to the Government of the Massa- 
chusetts, countenancing them, cease not to kill our cattle, 
offer violence to our families, vilify authority of Parliament 
vouchsafed to us; justifying their practices, with many men- 
aces and threatenjngs, as being under the protection of the 
Massachusetts. 

In that, wo are restrained, and have been this seven or 



219 

eight years past, of coniinon commerce in the country; and 
that only for matters of conscience. 

In that, our estates formerly taken from us, remain yet 
unrestored, with these additions thereunto. 

These, and the like, are the grounds of our complaints; 
viih our serious desires, that you he pleased to take notice 
of them, as our solemn intelligence given hereof, that, as 
yourselves shall think meet, you may give further seasona- 
ble intelligence to your several colonies whom it may con- 
cern, so that their agent or agents may have seasonable in- 
structions to mnke answer; and we hereby shall acquit our- 
selves that we offer not to proceed in these our complaints, 
without giving due and seasonable notice thereof. 
By me, JOHN GREEiNE, Jr. Clerk. 

In the behalf of the town of Warwick. 

Warwick, the first of September, 1651. 

Upon occasion of the foregoing letter and some discourse 
about this business, the Commissioners for the Massachu- 
setts presented this ensuing Declaration: 

That in Anno, 1643, several complaints were made to the 
Commissioners of the United Colonies, then met at Boston, 
against Samuel Gorton, and his company, and some of them 
of weighty and great concernment to all the jurisdictions: 
information was also given that the said Gorton and his 
company had been sent to, once and again, by the General 
Court of the ^lassachusetts, with a safe conduct both for 
their coming and return, that they might give answer and 
satisfaction wherein they had done wrong: It then came 
into consideration under what Government or Jurisdiction 
the said Gorton and his company lived; the Commissioners 
take notice, that the Indian Sachems, proprietors of the 
place, had voluntarily submitted their persons and lands 
sometime before, to the Government of the Massachusetts. 
The Commissioners of Plymouth claimed interest therein 
by patent, but upon such considerations as were then pre- 
sented, resigned the same to the IMassachusetts, with the 
consent and approbation of the rest of the Commissioners. 

The Government of the Massachusetts having now both 
English and Indian right and title to the aforesaid place 
where Gorton and his company lived, derived to them, the 
Commissioners did jointly think it fit and accordingly advis- 
ed the magigtrates of the Massachusetts, to proceed against 



220 

them, according to what they should lind just, cuyagiug the 
rest of the jurisdictions to approve of and concur in the same, 
as if their Commissioners had been present, at the aforesaid 
conclusion. Upon the aforesaid grounds, the General 
Court of Massachusetts, brought the said Gorton and seve- 
ral of his company to their trial and just censure, according 
to the joint advice given them by the Commissioners, which 
have never since been disowned by any of the jurisdictions, 
but allowed of, by their silent approbation; though part of 
their censure, upon other grounds, hath hitherto been sus- 
pended, and the said Gorton and his company permitted 
peaceably to reside on the aforesaid lands, notwithstanding 
the manifold complaints, both of the English and Indians 
under the government of the Massachusetts, of great and 
insufferable injuries, by the said Gorton and his company, 
done both to their persons and estates; which occasioned 
several addresses from the Massachusetts, both by message 
and writing to Gorton and his company for reparation, but 
in vain; to the Commissioners, for counsel and advice, be- 
ing unwilling to engage further, (as at first) without a joint 
concurrence and approbation of the other jurisdictions; but 
in the meantime were continually burdened with complaints 
from the English and Indians there under our government; 
and charged with breach of promise, in not righting their 
wrongs, and doing them justice, according to covenant. 

The inhabitants of Warwick never exhibited any com- 
plaints to the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts, of any 
wrongs or injuries done them by English or Indians there; 
which had they done, they should have received equal jus- 
tice with any other. 

And when there arose a difference betwixt the IMassa- 
chusetts and Plymouth, concerning the jurisdiction of the 
aforesaid place, the Government of Plymouth, not allowing 
of what their Commissioners had done therein, though for a 
long time they had been silent, the Commissioners of the 
Massachusetts referred the determination of that difference 
to the rest of the Commissioners at Boston, in Anno, 1649; 
who advised to issue the same by having a neighborly trea- 
ty, betwixt the two jurisdictions of the Massachusetts and 
Plymouth. Whereupon the General Court of the Massa- 
chusetts sent two deputies tothe General Court of I'ly- 
mouth, with commissions and instructions, to resign and 
submit the aforesaid lands and persons rciriding therein, to 



221 

the govcnunent of Plymouth, they only promising to do 
equal justice both to English and Indians there, according 
to our engagements; but the Government of Plymouth 
chose rather to ratify and confirm the aforesaid resignation 
of their Commissioners, which was accordingly done by an 
authentic writing, signed by the Governor, &c. 

The Court of JNlassachusetts again demand satisfaction of 
Gorton and his company, but are slighted and neglected. 
By their Conmiissioncrs they desire advice of the rest of 
the Commissioners at Hartford, in Anno, 1650; and are sol- 
emnly advised, again to resign the aforesaid place and per- 
sons to Plymouth, and that Government to receive them; 
judging that way, in several respects, most expedient for all 
the jurisdictions; the Government of the Massachusetts ob- 
serve the advice given, and make a second tender as afore- 
said, but were refused by the Government of Plymouth. By 
all tliat hath been said, it may appear to the honored Com- 
missioners of the several jurisdictions, and any other that 
may take notice thereof, that the Government of the Massa- 
chusetts have, from first to last, been always ready to heark- 
en to the advice and counsel of the rest of the Commission- 
ers, and to act accordingly in the case aforesaid; and have, 
out of their own treasury, allowed a large quantity of corn 
to the Indians under their government there, to keep them 
alive, the cattle of Gorton's company having destroyed most 
of theirs, rather than by force to compel them till all other 
means and ways of prudence for issuing these and the like 
differences were used, which we have done to the utmost of 
our power, with much patience and forbearance; but com- 
plaints are daily renewed, and subjects oppressed; our gov- 
ernment and jurisdiction over them, slighted and contemn- 
ed, and our promise and covenant both to English and In- 
dians there, for their just protection, charged by them to 
be infringed and broken, to the great dishonor of God, our 
religion, and of our profession amongst the heathen. We, 
therefore, desire and entreat to know of the rest of the 
Commissioners, that in case we meet with opposition from^ 
the aforesaid people of Warwick, in following the advice of 
the Commissioners given at their last meeting at Hartford, 
what aid and assistance each jurisdiction will afford us, for 
the righting of our injured and oppressed people, and bring- 
ing delinquents to condign punishment. 



o>22 

To which Declaration the Commissioners for Connecticut 
and New-Haven, partly by way of concession, and partly 
by way of exposition, answered; that at a meeting of the 
Commissioners in 1643, divers complaints of weighty con- 
sideration, were presented from the Massachusetts colony, 
against Samuel Gorton and his company, concerning which 
no satisfaction by any fair means could be obtained; where- 
upon the Commissioners jointly thought fit that the magis- 
trates of the Massachusetts, if the said company persist in 
their stubbornness, should proceed against them, according 
to what they shall find just; promising the concurrence of 
the Colonies in what should warrantably be done; but the 
Commissioners have neither received information from the 
JMassachusetts, nor complaint from Samuel Gorton and his 
company, concerning these proceedings; so that they have 
had neither call nor means to own nor disown them. At 
the aforesaid meeting. Anno, 1643, a question also grew 
betwixt the Commissioners for the Massachusetts and Ply- 
mouth, to which of their patents that tract of land, on which 
Samuel Gorton and his company were settled, did apper- 
tain; each colony claimed it as part of their jurisdiction, 
but in the issue, the Commissioners for Plymouth consent- 
ed that it should belong to the Massachusetts, from which 
the other Commissioners, (being neither concerned nor un- 
derstanding where the right lay,) saw no cause to dissent; 
but since, sundry complaints at several meetings, have been 
brought from the Massachusetts, of injuries done by Samuel 
Gorton and his company, inhabitants of Warwick, to some 
English and Indians, subject to the Massachusetts juris- 
diction, and the question was again revived betwixt the 
Massachusetts and Plymouth, to which jurisdiction that 
tract of land belongeth. The Commissioners, from time to 
time, gave counsels of peace, according to their best present 
light. Anno 1649, they advised that the right of place, with 
other things in difference, might be issued in a neighborly 
treaty betwixt those two colonies, and that all ofi'ensive car- 
riages might be suppressed: In Anno 1650, upon like com- 
plaints, they advised that the Massachusetts acquit and re- 
linquish their claim to the forementioned tract of land, and 
that Plymouth leassume it, that Warwick might be placed 
under their jurisdiction to which it belongs, that a com- 
fortable issue might be put to the former difference, and 
justice have a free passage. But if then the inhabitants of 



Warwick should refuse to submit to that Government, the/ 
advised that the wholesome directions, given by the Honora- 
ble Committee of Parliament in that case be forthwith duly at- 
tended, that the inhabitants of Warwick might be convinced, 
and accordingly submit. And the Commissioners for Con- 
necticut and New Haven then wrote to the Governor of 
Plymouth, advising thereunto. We were since informed 
that the Government of the Massachusetts hearkened there- 
unto, and offered to settle Warwick and the land in ques- 
tion, under Plymouth, but that Plymouth hath and still re- 
fuseth to accept them; so that offences are like to continue 
and increase. The commissioners, therefore, fearing in- 
convenience, would provide a remedy, but know not what 
to add to the advice given in Anno 1650, concerning tres- 
passes, but that that which is proved be recovered, if no other 
means will serve but legal force, but with as much modera- 
tion as may be; lest, fi-om a course of continued offences, 
further quarrels and acts of hostility should spring and 
grow, betwixt the inhabitants of Warwick and their fore^ 
mentioned neighbors. 

The commissioners of Plymouth, taking knowledge of 
the long declaration of the Massachusetts' commissioners, 
collected out of pieces of passages of many years, and be- 
ing unsatisfied therewith, thought meet to declare themselves, 
that, what was done by Mr. Winslow and Mr. Collyer, then 
commissinners of Plymouth, in Anno 1643, concerning the 
resignation up of any lands which Plymouth had interest in, 
was not at all in their power to resign up any part of Ply- 
mouth's jurisdiction to the Massachusetts; neither could 
the Massachusetts receive any such resignation, without 
being injurious to the third and sixth articles of confedera- 
tion,°if any had been made. And Mr. Winslow and Mr. 
Collyer have several times publicly denied, that they either 
did, or intended, to resign any part of the jurisdiction of 
Plymouth to the Massachusetts; and what right or author- 
ity the Government of the Massachusetts had to send for 
Samuel Gorton, inhabiting so far out of their jurisdiction, 
we understand not; and how just their censure, we know not; 
or what part of censure they have suspended, and upon what 
grounds, we apprehend not; and concerning any reference 
put to the determination of the rest of the Commissioners at 
Boston, in Anno 1649, the commissioners for Plymouth re- 
ferred none; and what authentic writing the Governor of 



224 

Plymouth signed, the Massachusetts commissioners do not 
shew; but if they mean a writing signed by the Governor of 
Plymouth and some particular persons joining with him, 
bearing date the 7th of June, 1650, we the commissioners 
of Plymouth, for our particular persons, cannot own it ; hav- 
ing protested against it, in the court of Plymouth, as being 
directly contrary to the orderof the Honorable Committee of 
the Parliament of England, and contrary to the Articles of 
Confederation with the rest of the colonies. 

And, whereas we are informed that the Court of the Mas- 
achusetts have lately sent out several summons or warrants, 
to several persons inhabiting Warwick, alias Shawomet and 
Pawtuxet, and have made seizure upon some of their es- 
tates, we do hereby protest against such proceedings, if any 
such be. 

New-Haven, 16th Sept. 1651. 
Plymouth. JOHN BROWN, 

TIMOTHY HATHERLY. 

Massachusetts. LYMAN BRADSTREET, 

WILLIAM HATHORNE. 

Connecticut. EDWARD HOPKINS, 

ROGER DUDLEY. 

New-Haven. THEOPHILUS EATON, 

STEPHEN GOODY EER. 
[Hazard's Hist. CoK] 



No. VIII. 



Leller from Inhabitants of JVanvick. 

To THE Honored the General Court, representing the 
Colony of the Massachusetts, sitting in the name, 

AND BY the authority OF HiS RoYAL MaJESTY ChARLES 

the Second, King of Great Britain, with the Domin- 
ions AND Territories thereunto belonging; &.c. 
After our long continued patience and forbearance in ly- 
ing under the burdens of wrongs and injuries, which you 
have done unto us; vvaitingto see when your own ingenuity 
would prompt and provoke you, to return unto us some re- 
sponsible satisfaction; but seeing no appearance thereof, 
but the continuation of oppression, in withholding our rights, 



22.) 

in not releasing our tcdiou.'? exile; in some of yours irregu- 
larly intruding upon our huvful liberties; und in your en- 
couraging of the Indians t(» oppress us inlolerabl)' to this 
day, presuming upon your protection therein, and threatening 
ot"us with your maintaining of them in their doings continu- 
ally; and when some (out of compassion) have laid our 
wrongs open before the Commissioners of tlie United Colo- 
nics, some of the chief of you, whom wc spare to name, have 
answered with great zeal, "Let them alone; let the In- 
dians destroy them." Therefore, think it not much, that wc 
are now at the last, constrained to appear before you in these 
our lines, to present unto you our long resented and now 
resolved thoughts. Our grievances wc briefly reduce into 
these four heads; which as occasion shall serve and call for, 
we shall amplify, prove and express cxcry one in their sev- 
eral particulars, viz: 

1. Your cruel and unjust seizure upon our persons and 
estates, by Capt. George Cooke, Edward Johnson and Hum- 
phrey Atherton, commissionated by you with the soldiers, 
both English and Indians under their command; sent against 
us. His Majesty's subjects ; who live peaceably, doing harm 
to no man, and far out of all your jurisdiction. Your above- 
said soldiers, contrary to law, in an hostile manner, broke 
open our houses, spoiling our bedding by lying on them in 
their trenches, living upon our cattle in the time of their be- 
sieging us, and driving away the rest of our great cattle, 
amounting to a great number, into the Massachusetts, and 
there disposing of them to your use. Also when we did 
hang out the King's colors, to signify to whom we did ad- 
here, your soldiers shot them through and through immedi- 
ately; and contrary to your Commissioners' and soldiers' 
agreement with us, that we should go with them as neigh- 
bors and freemen, unto tiie Massachusetts, to answer any 
thing that could be objected against us, which said agree- 
ment of ours was on purpose to save the spilling any blood, 
upon which we invited them into the house wherein we 
were besieged; they immediately upon their entrance into 
our said house, seized upon our arms and persons, carrying 
us all a-.vay as slaves and captive?, leaving our houses and 
necessaries in them, to be pillaged by the Indians, who ac- 
cordingly did destroy our goods and habitations, by tire and 
otherwise; our wives and children being fled into the woods 
and other places for safety, but in regard of hardships sus- 



226 

tained herein, to some of them it proved loss of life, and to 
others loss of limbs. 

2. The second general head of our grievances, is, our 
false imprisonment for the space of one whole winter season 
and more, lying in chains and fetters of iron, and yet to 
work for our livings by the sentence of your Court, or else 
to be starved, according to the doctrine of the chief of your 
ministers, preached for the editication of the people in the 
same season; and when in your Court privately lield, you 
put us upon questions concerning our religion, thinking to 
ensnare us, having nothing else to object against us, telling 
us that we answered upon life or death; we told you that 
we could not give you your due honor in the place where 
you sat; but as you were related to the King's Majesty, 
who had committed the same unto you; (though out of youv 
jurisdiction, we held ourselves to stand in a neighborly re- 
lation unto you;) and therefore told you that as we ac- 
knowledged the King and his laws to be the fountain and 
head of your Government; and that if it were so, that you 
prosecuted us to take away our lives after our goods, we 
did then humbly make our appeal to the King's Majesty, for 
our trial, and could not be heard; but not having the breach 
of any law against us, you put it to the major vote whether 
we should live or die; and being our lives escaped only two 
votes, as some of the deputies of the General Court inform- 
ed us, some of you would have it put to vote again, only 
the Governor answered it was the finger of God, and it was 
the best to let it pass as it was. Our imprisonment as above- 
said, after this was done, was a time which had many hours 
in it, wherein you had hope to get something against us, by 
one means or other; but if every hour wherein you sought 
this, (by our own law) answer the King's laws for such im- 
prisonment, it will amount to some considerable account 
upon your score. 

3. The third general head is, our causeless banishment 
and exile, continued upon us unto this day, which is now 
upon the expiration of eighteen years; not only to the dis- 
grace of our persons, in making us appear obnoxious in the 
eyes of men, as though we were guilty of some notorious 
crimes; but also to the depriving of us cf common commerce 
amongst men, whereby we have for so long time been hin- 
dered of the benefit of the course, opportunity and state of 
things in the country, in way of trade, in regard of the pla- 



227 

ces of exportation and importation of all commodities being 
amongst you, where wc by your law may not come, upon 
peril of death; and yourselves know that many amongst 
you and some nearer to our abodes, being favored and en- 
couraged l)y you, (since the time of our unjust punishment) 
raised their estates to the sum of many thousand pounds a 
man, whilst \vc iiave sat under o[)pressions intolerable, hav- 
ino- things not at the second, but at the third or fourth hand, 
for the necessary sup|)ly of our families, to mitigate their 
(Troans, under the burdens which you have laid upon us: 
which groans are gone up. And yourselves know also tha;t 
divers of us were in as good capacity, (if not better) to have 
advanced our estates as many of those who are so increas- 
ed, when Captain, Lieutenant and soldiers came first 
against us, where yourselves had nothing to do, unless you 
took yourselves to be the only reformers of the world, to 
bring them all to the bent of your bow, as the chief of your 
minilters have professed; that so far as you found your- 
selves to have the power of the sword, you ought to subdue 
all, to the form of your Church and State. 

4. The fourth general head of our complaint is, the great 
charge and expense you have put us unto, for the recove- 
ry and repossessing of our lands, which you had seized 
upon, as well as upon our persons and estates; banishing us 
from them also, though under deceitful and ambiguous 
terms, taking that for granted which was not true; accord- 
ing to other of your dealings towards us, as evidently shall 
appear in its due place and season; whereupon we were 
necessitated, for supply of our present wants, to make use 
of our friends beyond modesty and all ordinary courtesy, 
when you had cast us out of house and harbor, and place 
of abode, taking from us not oidy our goods of all sorts, 
which where our livelihood, but our lands also; leaving us 
destitute of any place wherein we might employ ourselves 
to sustain our wives and little ones; thinking thereby either 
to drive us among the Indians remote, to our ruin; or else 
to the Dutch Plantation, where many of our English peo- 
ple, men, women and children were so inhumanly massa- 
cred, immediately before, (by the barbarous Indians in those 
parts,) which was one effect of your banishing them from 
among yourselves. In this case, we, being deprived of all 
liberty to pass through any of your plantations, to go for Eng- 
land, to make known unto the King's Majesty; being put 



228 

in trust (also) with the chief Sachems about us, who earn- 
estly desired to submit their persons and lands unto His 
Majesty's protection, seeing yourselves laying claim unto 
and prosecuting by the sword, for such large dominions in 
these parts, perceiving that we were delivered out of your 
hands, beyond all expectation, and that we professed our- 
selves to be subjects and servants to the Great Sachem of 
Old England. We were upon this twofold occasion forced 
to travel to the Dutch plantation, to take shipping; where 
we lay long upon expense before an opporturiity could be 
had; then transporting ourselves into Holland, we lay long 
there again for a passage into England; where arrived, 
your friends and agents did what they could, to hinder the 
dispatch of our business, thinking thereby to wear us out in 
the want of means to maintain ourselves, some of your chief 
friends, both in England and also of this country, being of 
the Committee to which our business was referred, by which 
means, the time was much prolonged before atermination of 
the justice and equity ot our cause. And yourselves know 
that the said Conmiittee were pleased to take notice (in 
their letter concerning the re-possessing of our plantation) 
of our modesty and moderation, in that we did not for that 
present time urge or sue for reparations of other wrongs we 
underwent, because of the troublesome times in those days. 
But we were willing to stay till a better and more fit season 
offered itself; only the re-possessing of our plantations was 
of present necessity, whereupon we might labor with our 
hands for the preservation of our wives and children; which 
they most willingly granted unto us, seeing that justice and 
equity called for the same. The accomplishment thereof in 
our loss of time, expense of money and arrearages, our fam- 
ilies were forced in our absence, (which absence was not 
only from our families in our voyage for England, but also 
from our lauds from which you had banished us) was no 
small charge, for such as you had left naked of all manner 
of help, thinking thereby to tread us under foot forever, and 
our children after us, as such as should never be able to 
use any means for any satisfaction hereafter. If the great 
cattle you took from us, be well calculated according to or- 
dinary increase for so many years, as you have the use and 
benefit of them, it will amount to a very considerable sum, 
besides all other charge and detriment; and we understand 
that now is a time of repairing of losses and righting of 



229 

wrongs, Ibrnierly done in our native country, vvhcre we 
doubt not our wrongs will be taken into consideration 
among the rest. And though yourselves would not allow 
our humble appeal to the Royalty of the late King, yet we 
hope you will not hinder our humble addresses unto His 
Majesty that now is. 

Wherefore considering the premises as things shall be ex- 
jdained and amplified according to the particulars necessa- 
rily comprised, which you cannot be ignorant of; and being 
that we respect you as gentlemen of the same country out 
of which we came, also as neighbors here in this remote 
Avilderness; and respecting you as wise and understanding 
men; we are, in the truth and sincerity of our hearts, (for 
neighborly peace and society in these His Majesty's domin- 
ions) willing to propose unto your judicious and serious 
consideration, viz: 

That if, in your judgments, you shall be pleased to pro- 
pound unto us such a plausible way (which may stand with 
His JMajesty's authority and not prejudice nor demeanour 
cause) for a home composure in these parties, of the afore- 
said ditferences, unto moderate satisfaction, we shall most 
willingly and freely address ourselves thereunto. 

Otherwise, take knowledge, that our resolution is, with 
all convenient speed, to make our humble addresses to the 
King's Majesty, in way of petition and particular declaration 
thereupon, that His Majesty will be pleased to determine 
the matter by his council, or whom His Majesty shall be 
pleased to appoint. 

We understand that yourselves have received good en- 
couragements from His Majesty of late, which is our en- 
couragement also, that he will the more willingly take the 
cause into consideration. Take knowledge, therefore, that 
we do, by these presents, give you seasonable notice of our 
intended proceedings about the premises, that so you may 
be ready to make your best defence. And of this warning 
given unto you, we keep a copy, testified unto by sufficient 
witness. It being a seasonable time now, fitting your op- 
portunity; for we understand that your agent has lately 
come over out of England, and is shortly to return thither 
again; so that you may give him full instructions for the 
management of your cause. This also you may be pleased 
to take cognizance of, that if you put us unto the prosecu- 
tion of our intended resolution, in our luunble addresses to 



^30 

His Majesty, the damage which we shall charge upon you 
will amount to a very great sum, as by visible demonstra- 
tions and rational and undeniable calculation and account, it 
shall appear; besides our false imprisonment, and wrongs 
done by Indians, in killing our cattle, planting and wearing out 
our best land, pilfering and purloining our goods, &c. for the 
space of so many years, whom we expected to be removed 
without delay. If we hear not from you speedily concerning 
the premises, then we take it for granted, that you put us to 
the prosecution of our abovesaid resolutions, and intend to 
give us a meeting in England, for the intent and purpose as 
aforesaid. We conclude, with our desire to know of you, 
whether you count us free in point of egress end regress in 
any of your plantations or jurisdictions, to go about these or 
any other of our lawful employments, without disturbance, 
as free subjects of his Majesty in his dominions, carrying 
ourselves (as in our constant custom and practice we have 
done) according unto the the rules of humanity and sobrie- 
ty. And if we have not a speedy answer from you in this 
point also, we shall consider you hold us still as under the 
bondage of a causeless banishment; and shall seek to accom- 
modate ourselves elsewhere, for transportation, to obtain re- 
dress. And so we take our leave, and remain, though poor, 
jet your loving and peacable neighbours. 

From Warwick, in the colony of Providence Plantations, 
this22d of August, 1661. 

JOHN GREENE, 
RICHARD WATERMAN, 
RANDALL HOLDEN, 
JOHN WICKES, 
SAMUEL GORTON, 
RICHARD CARDER, 
JOHN POTTER. 
For the Honored, the General Court of the Massachusetts, 
present these, unto the Honorable Governor and Magis- 
trates authorised for transacting all public affairs, to open 
and act accordingly. 

[Mass. Records.] 



231 

No. IX. 

Gorton and others' Memorial to the King's Commissioners. 
To THE High and Honorable Couht of Commissioners, 

APPOINTED BV THE KIxNG's MaJESTY, AS THE SuPKEME 

Authority in these parts ok America called New 

England, with other places adjacent. 

The humble petition of Samuel Gorton, Randall Hclden, 
John Wickes and John Greene, in the behalf of themselves 
and others of (he town of Warwick, humbly sheweth: 

That whereas your humble petitioners have been evilly 
intreated by divers of our countrymen in these parts, more 
especially by them of the Massachusetts, without any fault 
of ours, that we know or can be made to appear, only 
they took offence, that we could not close with them in 
their church orders, neither could we approve of their 
civil course, in divers respects, as to execute the laws in 
their own names, not expressing the name and authority 
of the King; also swearing men to fidelity in like sort; not 
admitting of appeals to His Majesty in any case, and exer- 
cising their power beyond their jurisdiction and bounds, 
whereunto the King had limited them, as sole lords of the 
whole country; your humble petitioners, having removed 
themselves out of all their jurisdiction, by purchasing a tract 
of land where now we live. When they had preached us 
in their pulpits to be gross heretics, and men not worthy to 
live on the earth; to prepare their people to judge us wor- 
thy of death, then they sent out against us one Capt. George 
Cooke, his Lieut. Humphrey Atherton, commissionated 
with a band of soldiers, that if we would not relinquish our 
religion, which we had learned in our constant frequenting 
the public assemblies in our native country, or else to put 
us to the sword; whom your petitioners for a time resisted 
only defensively. At the last, upon honorable terms, we 
concluded to go with them into the Massachusetts, to see 
what all the country could allege against us at their General 
Court which was then in being. But their Captain being 
entertained in a way of friendship, with his Lieutenant and 
soldiers, into our hold, when they saw how few men we 
were, falsifying their covenant, they seized upon us as cap- 
tives, and carried us all as slaves, into the Massachusetts; 
and when we came before the Governor, Mr. Winthrop, we 



232 

told him how the Captain had wronged us, he answered, 
whatever the Captain said, it was his intent to have us cap- 
tives; and thereupon sent us to the common jail, where we 
lived of our own charge, as long as what money we had 
lasted, and then were put to grind at the mill, prepared in 
the prison for that purpose, for the prison's poor allowance. 
And when they had tried us upon life and death, denying 
our appeal to the King, and could find nothing wherein we 
were guilty, and that in a private Court, where none was 
permitted to hear but magistrates and ministers, who before 
had resolved upon our death, in case we would not falsify 
our faith to God and the King; and when they had put it 
to the major vote, whether your petitioners should live or die, 
our lives escaping by two votes, then they confined us to 
several places in the colony, where the magistrates lived, 
with charge not to speak of any thing about which we had 
been tried, unless to some elder, or one licensed under a 
magistrate's hand to discourse with us, and to keep this con- 
finement and this charge, under pain of death; the contrary 
proved before a magistrate, we were to die without further 
trial; putting bolts and chains upon us, and to work for our 
living; and so we continued a whole winter season. After- 
wards they released us, by banishment out of all their juris- 
dictions, and from our own lands, lawfully purchased, where 
now we live; and that upon pain of death. The number of 
great cattle which th( y took from us, was about four score 
head, which upon rational account, according to ordinany 
increase since that time, will amount to divers thousands of 
pounds, as hath been tried in a small parcel privately taken 
at that time, by some of their subjects in this colony, with- 
out any commission from them, and were accordingly cast 
at law, upon the ground of common increase. The rest of 
our cattle they lived upon, at the time of their beseiging us, 
having many of their Indians joined with them, against us, 
leaving our houses and necessaries in them, as pillage for 
their subjects, both Indians and English, in this colony, 
whom they had drawn away from their Narragansett Sach- 
ems, and this Government, to become their subjects and in- 
struments to work their wills upon us, and under the fallacy 
and irregularity of the subjection of these revolting people, 
they have maintained the Indians upon our lands to this day, 
planting our best ground, burning up our wood, killing our 
cattle, pilfering and purloining our goods, breaking open 



233 

our liouses, olVoring violence to the inhabitants, resisting 
tlie King's oflicers violently and riotously; and we can have 
no redress, although it be contrary to order given concern- 
ing ns, by the Lords and Commons in the High Court of 
I*arliament, to all the colonies and governments about us, 
which orders, your petitioners have to show. 

Your petitioners therefore humbly pray, that you will be 
pleased to take our distresses into your Honors' breasts, so 
as some speedy course may be taken for redress, and that 
some responsible and correspondent satisfaction may be 
made, as your Honors shall think meet and convenient, ac- 
cording to the rules of justice and equity; and your peti- 
tioners shall become most humble and earnest suitors and 
petitioners to Almighty God, on your behalf, as long as wo 
are. SAMUEL GOllTOiV, 

JOHN WICKES, 
RANDALL HOLDEN, 
JOHN GREENE. 
March 4, 16G4-5. [Mass. Hist. Soc. Col.] 



No. X. 

The Ansiver of J\Tussachuse{fs to the preceding Petition, the 
SOlh of May, 1665. 

An Apologetical Reply to an invective Petition, exhibited 
to His lilajesty's Honorable Commissioners, by Samuel 
Gorton, Randall Holden, John Wickes and John Greene; 
and bearing date, March 4, 1664-5; humbly tendered by 
the General Court of His Majesty's Colony of the Mas- 
sachusetts, in New-England. 

This Court having been advertised by their Committee, 
empowered, humbly, to treat with His Majesty's Hon- 
orable Commissioners viva voce, and to make report of 
their proposals, that the said Commissioners did urge a ne- 
cessity of a recognizance of some particular cases, ground- 
ed upon several complaints exhibited to them by divers of 
His Majesty's subjects in these parts; and in particular, 
by Samuel Gorton, Randall Holden, John Wickes, and John 
Greene, and divers others of the inhabitants of Warwick, 
applying themselves by way of petition, unto His Majesty's 
Honorable Conmiissioners, as aforesaid, for redress, and 



234 

upon perusal of a copy of the said petition, perceiving it to 
be the main design of the petitioners, to abuse His Miijes- 
ty's grace and favor; and by misrepresentation, if it had 
been possible, to prostrate his credit to the belief of that 
which is not to be believed; his princely wisdom putting him 
beyond a capacity of such abuses. As also to give unto 
His Majesty's Honorable Commissioners, and this Court, 
much needless trouble, by a tedious recollection of antiqua- 
ted matters, and an ungrateful investigation into the ruins 
of time, after things hard to be found, is not less by the ma- 
ny revolutions of this generation, which is almost passed 
away since that transaction; therefore, we have accounted 
it our duty to God, in order to the vindication of his glory, 
our duty to His Majesty, in order to his satisfaction, and 
the preservation of his honor, by the maintenance of his au- 
thority, which by his royal charter he hath betrusted this 
Court withal, to be improved for the preservation of the 
peace, and promotion of the public weal of His Majesty's 
good subjects of this colony; as also that we may purge the 
Government, from those foul imputations of disloyalty which, 
by that petition they have aspersed it withal: we say we are 
bound by an obligation to God, our King and our country, 
humbly to offer this reply to that petition; which we shall 
endeavor; first, by comparing the petition with themselves- 
secondly, with their principles; thirdly, with the vvhole 
transaction. 

Samuel Gorton, the person in whom tho sparks of that 
spirit of malignity first kindled into the inflaming of the ma- 
lignant passions of many other malconterited persons, which 
he blew up to the blaze of contention, industriously adding 
fuel; which had its dangerous tendency, to the utter con- 
sumption of both our civil and ecclesiastical constitutions, 
in whom, principally, we suppose the same spirit hath been 
cherished and kept alive unto this day. He seems to be 
incapable of any other character, but that which his demerits 
gives him; which he long since hath received the impress- 
ion of, by the press, in a book printed and published and 
presented to our superiors in our vindication, viz. that he 
was a man whose spirit is stark drunk with blasphemies and 
insolences, a corrupter of t!;e truth, a disturber of the 
peace, wherever he comes. This character he hath brand- 
ed himself withal, both by his words and actions, which doth 
appear by his own lettprs to this Government, and the let- 



235 

ters of otlicrs concerning him, long since cxliibitctl to tliC 
view ofthc world. In that foresaid book, the penalties in- 
flicted for his intolerable insolencics, turbiilencics and hete- 
rodoxies, in at least three of His JMajesty's Colonics in New- 
England, doth demonstrate him to be a man so unruly as not 
fit to live in any civil or Christian society, ho having been 
whij)ped in Plymouth Patent, whipped and banished from 
Rhode-Island, imprisoned and only banished out of the Mas- 
sachusetts; having before also endangered the ruin of ano- 
ther new plantation, called Providence, their lamentable 
complaints, their importunate cries to the Massachusetts 
for help against him, do appear by their letters, in print, un- 
der their hands, in the aforesaid book, the one from Mr. 
Williams, the (hen patriot of the place, who begins in these 
words, ' -.Ir. Gorton having foully abused high and low at 
Aquctneck,i3now bewitching and be-niaddeningpoor Provi- 
dence;'* and the other letter begins thus, " We, the inhab- 
itants of the town abovesaid, having fair occasion, counting 
it meet and necessary, to give you a true intelligence of the 
insolent and riotous carriage of Samuel Gorton and his 
company," and in the conclusion they add, speaking of 
Gorton, "first pleading necessity, or to maintain wife and 
family, but afterwards boldly to maintain lusts, like savage 
brute beasts, they put no manner of difference between 
houses, goods, lands, wives, lives, blood; if it may, there- 
fore, ])lease you, of gentle courtesy, and for the preserva- 
tion of humanity and mankind, to consider our condition, 
and lend your neighbors a helping hand, and send us such 
assistance, &c." Thus the cries, or rather outcries, of poor, 
oppressed Providence. Finally, when he had wearied out 
Plymouth, Pihode-Island, and Providence, under pretence 
of purchase of land of an Indian priace, (not the proprie- 
tor, but an usurper,) they took possesion of a tract of land, 
belonging of right to the Indians, where their carriages also 
were so insolent, that it was intolerable to the poor oppress- 
ed natives, who also were compelled to crave the aid and 
protection of the Massachusetts. How inconsistent the con- 
ditions and dispositions of these persons are with their 
present petition, wherein they highly pretend to a conscien- 
tious severity in matters of religion, and insist upon it, as 
the only ground of offence from whence those controversies 
arose, and their tenderness of conscience, the only delin- 
quency charged upon them, we humbly offer to considera- 
tion. 



2-30 

Secondly. Compare this pctiliou with their own princi- 
ples, sufficiently notorious to the world, not only by their 
own public professions and practices, but also by the fore- 
mentioned book; and therein, tirst, we shall animadvert a 
little upon their principles of religion, if we may without au 
abuse, make use of the word religion, in the expression of, 
or in conjunction with, their irreligious and blasphemous 
tenets, which they have both by their words and writings 
given large and ungrateful opportunity unto us to under- 
stand, if we may suppose the dialect wherein those doctrines 
of devils are taught, rationally intelligible to any under- 
standing, not acted by the same spirit of error; their very lan- 
guage being accommodated to the expressions of the deepest 
mysteries of iniquity, and to compose a system of the most 
dangerous and damning heterodoxes, consisting of all de- 
ceiveableness of unrighteousness; and so fitted to deceive, 
especially in such times, wherein the vengeance of Gon 
hath seized upon the intellectuals of men; God, out of just 
judgment, giving some men up, to believe lies, that they 
might be damned. 

A brief collection of tlie principles of these men, is taken 
out of their own letters printed in the foresaid book, and in 
their own words. Churches, say they, are devised plat- 
forms, and the wisdom of man is that which gives the whole 
being of churches and commonwealth: of ministers, say 
they, that to make their call mediate and not immediate, is 
to make a nullity of Christ, to cruelty Christ, to put him to 
open shame; and that such ministers are magicians; as also, 
that sermons of God's ministers are tales, lies and false- 
hoods; of baptism, behold the vanity and abomination of your 
baptism. Sec. The Lord's Supper, they call it, your dished 
up dainties, turning the juice of a silly grape that perish- 
eth, into the blood of Christ, by the cunning skill of your 
magicians, which do make mad and drunk so many in the 
wo Id. Of repentance, they aifirm to this purpose, that in a 
^vay of compunction and sorrow, for a Christian to seek for 
consolation from Christ, that this to make the Son of God, 
Belial, and Seighnirim, the Devil himself. Of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, one of them most blasphemously said, in open 
court, when asked what was that Christ which was born of 
the Virgin and suffered under Pilate, that he was a sem- 
blance, picture or shadow of what was and is done actually 
and substantially in Christains; therefore they said of minis- 



tors, tlioy ;uc wiziirds and iiecroniancci.s, who ruist: a 
shadow witliout a substance, viz. to make Christ to be slain 
in types since the world began: they further aiHrmcd in open 
court, that as the image of" God in Adam, was Christ, (for 
God, said they, had biit one image,) so that the loss of this 
image by man, was the death ol" Christ. Oh ! astonishing 
blasphemies ! the very thoughts of which, cannot but sur- 
prise the heart of any sensible Christian with horror. They 
are, indeed, clouds without rain, but clouds full of the most 
pestiferous exhalations, exhaled from that mist which is 
risen out of the bottomless pit, and condensed by their own 
natural corruptions breaking forth in claps and flashes of 
thundering and lightning passions; for it is observable, 
that in all those transactions ,they manage the weapons of 
the prince of darkness, with the utmost expression of their 
malignity and enmity against churches, ordinances, magis- 
trates and ministers; and therefore we may not fear also to 
say, a<'^ainst God's glory. How inconsistent the principles 
of these men are, in matters of religion; with this, wherein 
they pretend to be sufferers for tiie cause of religion, and 
that they were urged to the relimpiishing of their religion, 
of that religion which they had learned in their constant at- 
tending on the public assemblies in our native country, 
which also deserves an animadversion, that they should put 
such an indignity upon the sound and wholesome doctrine 
of the churches of England, as once to mention it in con- 
junction with their damnable heresies, much more, with im- 
pudency, to make use of the doctrine of England to patron- 
ise their blasphemies, especially after they had published 
most of these black and dark doctrines in their writings to 
the world, and openly professed them with their mouths, be- 
fore manv witnesses; it seems to argue, that they are men 
void of shame or fear. Again, they assert in their petition, 
that they were likely to be tempted upon peril of life, upon 
pain of death, to desert their faith to God, which, what their 
faith was, appears by the premises. We say, again, there- 
fore, how inconsistent the principles of these men are in re- 
ligion, to this their petition, we humbly offer to considera- 
tion. Secondly. We also state their principles in civils in 
comparison with their petition. Their principles of civility or 
rather incivility, they have largely expressed also, partly by 
their writings and partly by their words, to the then Govern- 
ment and magistrates of this His ^Injesty's Colony of the 



238 

Masscicliubctts, in the management of that transaction, a 
collection of their reproachful and reviling speeches, &c. 
hath long since been published to the world, in the aforesaid 
book. They were, indeed so voluble and voluminous in 
their railings and revilings of Governor, Magistrates and 
Government, that to epitomise their railing accusations, 
will suffice to demonstrate to the world, fwhat spirit they 
were influenced by. They scornfully called our magis- 
trates' letter to them, an irregular note; they sl3'ly called 
them the seed of the ancient mother, i. e. of the enmity of 
the Devil; that they delighted daily to eat of the forbidden 
fruit; they compared them to dogs, in re-assuming their vo- 
mit into its form concocted, by receiving Cole and Arn- 
old under their protection; that they renounce and reject 
Christ; that they were so far from }^ielding subjection to 
Christ, as Cole and Arnold were from being honorable good 
subjects, whom they called the shame of religion, debauch- 
ed, inhuman Nabals, ill-bred, apostatized, lelonious per- 
sons, &c.; that the magistrates were Jews in the flesh, stout 
maintainers of the man of sin; that professed clemency and 
mercy, was, as much as in them lay, to send soul and body to 
Sheol (grave or hell) without redress or hope of recovery; 
that their ways are wicked and to be abhorred, because in 
their professed course, the two witnesses are slain by them; 
that the light appearing among them, was the light of Ba- 
laam, &c.; that the magistrates set up Seighnirim, which, 
as they interpret, is fear and horror of the Devil, by which 
they hope to be saved; they call the General Court the 
great Idol General, whose pretended equity of distributing 
justice is a mere device of man, according to the sleights of 
Satan, and call them a generation of vipers; they tell the 
Court, that they are not a cup full for their appetite, but a 
cup of trembling, either to make them vomit up their own 
eternal shame, or else to make them burst asunder with 
their fellow confessor, Judas Iscariot. This is not above 
half the opprobrious speeches they then abused the Court 
withal, but this may suffice to demonstrate how much they 
were actuated by that spirit, unto whom the angel said. The 
Lord rebuke thee. Neither may it be supposed that these 
barbarisms were extracted out of them by any unjust pro- 
vocative, in the frenzy of passion, and so that those express- 
ions proceeded only from a principle of enmity against our 
magistrates and ministers; for when they were in the best 



capacity to be treated with civility, (if at all tiiey were in 
such a capacity,) yet then they resolutely and deliberately 
maintained the opinion of anarchy, allowing only a distribu- 
tion of justice in a way of parity, by the fraternity, without 
superiority or inferiority; therefore, in open Court, they did 
seem to condemn all the magistrates; because every one did 
not sit there to judge as a brother, because to be a brother, 
and consequently to be a co-heir with Christ, is a higher 
sphere than to be a civil officer. Secondly, they expressly 
attirnied that the office to minister justice belongs only to 
the Lord, (and that therefore, from this instance of Herod, 
men make themselves gods, which themselves interpret to 
be only from the gods of this world, and therefore flat against 
Goo) l)y ruling over the bodies and estates of men; affirm- 
ing that to set up men to be judges of good and evil, for 
which all men are set up in that kind, that this is re-acting 
that ancient spirit of the serpent, if ye eat, ye shall be as 
gods; therefore, say they, that to choose men honorable, 
wise, and of good report, &c. or else they may not rule, 
&.C. ; this, they say is of man, by man, and a putting the 
second witness to death, that is to say, the death or weak- 
ness of Christ; or, in plain English, it is a killing of Christ. 
Thirdly. They affirmed that they who can create, make 
void and remove offices and officers at their pleasure, are 
of that evil one, i. e. the Devil and not of Jesus Christ, but 
of Shedim, that master and destroyer of mankind forever 
&.C.; they said, that men destroyed the Holy One of Israel 
&.C. and if men acknowledge that Christ rules on earth only 
by his deputies, vicegerents and lieutenants, that is, by per- 
sons invested with civil authority and office, therefore, they 
said again, that none shall see Christ come into his king- 
dom, with comfort, until the power and authority of man 
appear to be as the building of Babel; they add further, 
that a man may as well be a slave to his belly, and make that 
his god, as be a vassal to his own species or kind ; that these 
are their principles as to matters of civil government, ap- 
pears by the extractions of their ovvn letters, compared with 
their speeches in Court; also, as it is to be seen in the 
aforesaid book. Now, how inconsistent these principles 
are, with their petition, wherein they represent themselves 
as being very much oflended and very deeply affected with 
the least omission of formalities in the administration of jus- 
tice, and as if one principal ground of the controversy, had 



240 

been our disloyalty; whereas it appears, that their princi- 
pal design upon us, was to trample under foot His Majesty's 
authority in this Government, here established upon his roy- 
al charter; but also express their despite unto all dominion, 
and to speak of dignities as common enemies to all govern- 
ment, in Church and Commonwealth. How likely these 
men were to die martyrs to the faith of God and the King, 
which they pretend to, and how inconsistent (we say again) 
their principles were to this petition, we humbly offer also 
to consideration. 

Again, we also compare this petition, with the whole 
transaction, in the examination of which it is to be found, 
that it will appear, that there is as little of verity in 
this their petition to His Majesty's Honorable Commis- 
sioners, as there was of Christianity or civility in their 
letters and speeches to the General Court; for first, 
whereas they insinuate that they have been evilly entreated 
of their countrymen, only in special hinting them of the 
Massachusetts, they charge His Majesty's good subjects 
in his other colonies, with injury and injustice; whereby it 
appears, they were common enemies to all His Majesty's 
good subjects in other colonies vhere they lived, and that 
the whole country was compelled to stand upon their de- 
fence against them, as disturbers of the King's peace every 
where; whereas they boldly affirm, that a non-compliance 
with us of the Massachusetts, in matters ecclesiastical and 
civil, was the only delinquency which they were charged 
withal by this Government; asserting their own innocency 
as to matters of fact, and waiving any charge on that ac- 
count. It is not to be believed, but to be rejected as a 
manifest untruth, an astonishing impudency to preface their 
petition with such an inconsistency. The true state of the 
controversy hath been already printed in the foresaid book, 
which appears to be this: Samuel Gorton, having by his 
high affronts, which he had put upon the Governments of 
Pfymouth, Rhode-Island, and poor Providence, put himself 
out of a capacity unto a civil correspondency with either 
civil or ecclesiastical society in either of those colonies, and 
having associated and assimilated twelve or fourteen per- 
sons to himself, they were ordered to find a place in the 
woods, where they might situate themselves, and live ac- 
cording to their own principles of anarchy, and yet withal 
that their vanity might give them opportunity to manage 



241 

their own malignity, unto the distuihanoe of their neighbors; 
to this end, they treated with a great Sachem, Miantonomi, 
about the purchase of atract of land, which the said Sachem 
pretended a title to, though it did indeed belong to another 
Sachem, viz. Pomham, who, partly awed by the great Sa- 
chem, and partly betrayed by Gorton, set his hand to a 
writing, not knowing what he did, and utterly refusing to 
take any pay of Gorton, notwithstanding took possession of 
the land, and began to exercise his former insolencies 
more injuriously and more imperiously, both against Eng- 
lish and Indians, than formerly ; hereupon, both English 
and Indians make deplorable complaints to this Government, 
crave, yea, cry out for their protection against the said 
Gorton and his company's violence. The Court send for 
the foresaid Indian Sachems, and on examination find, both 
by English and Indian testimony, that Miantonomi was on- 
ly an usurper, and had had no title to the foresaid lands; 
and out of pity, received these two inferior Sachems, their 
subjects and lands to protection, as also some of the Eng- 
lish at Providence; hereupon the Court sent to Gorton, ad- 
vising of him and his company either to come or send some 
persons to make out their title to the land which they pos- 
sessed and offered them safe conduct. They scorned the 
Court's letters, returned scoffs and blasphemies. Some 
time after, the Court sent two of their own members, with 
letters, to treat them civilly and to persuade them to come, 
promising them safe conduct again; but they entertained 
these messengers as they had done the former, threatening 
to whip one of them; yet notwithstanding, a third time, the 
Court sent Commissioners to treat with them, to hear their 
allegations and to receive their answers, and to take satis- 
faction, if tendered; and so leave them in peace. These 
Commissioners were guarded with forty men; and in case 
they should persist in their obstinacy, had instructions to 
bring them by force. In the way, as our Commissioners 
were going to them, they were met with divers provoking, 
daring, domineering papers sent from them. Our Commis- 
sioners arriving, make their proposals; they standing upon 
their defence, our Commissioners forced them to suirender, 
and brought them away. This was the true and real ground 
of the Court's proceedings with them, thus far; and yet 
these men have the confidence, or rather, the impudence to 
say, in the frontispiece of tlieir pelilion, "without xiny fault 



242 

of ours that we know," which argues that they are so pro- 
digiously blinded and hardened, that they account not 
any of their outrages, riotous, injurious carriages; or behold 
in matters of fact, which by all the Court's messengers and 
letters to them they were charged with and convinced of, 
deservedly called, faults. It is acknowledged that in the 
transaction of matter, they made themselves guilty of such 
horrid and high-handed blasphemy, against God and Christ 
and the worship of God, that the Court judged themselves 
bound in duty, not to let them go out of their custody, with- 
out taking cognizance thereof, as a capital delinquency; 
after a fair trial, in which they maintained their blasphemies 
and added more, the Court, for the prevention of spreading 
their blasphemous doctrines, imposed the penalty of confine- 
ment, to several towns, during the Court's pleasure, and 
shortly after banished them; which we suppose, had they 
been tried in any other of His Majesty's courts of justice, 
would have undergone a penalty not exceeding the merit of 
the offence. 

Secondly. They say, that their offence was a non-com- 
pliance with us, in our civil course of adminstration; when it 
plainly appears, from the premises, that they did bid defi- 
ance to all civil government; accounting it a slavery and 
vassalage to be subject to any of their own kind or species, 
as they say. 

Thirdly. They say, that before they were brought down, 
our ministers preached them gross heretics, and men not 
worthy to live upon the earth, to prepare the people to 
judge them worthy of death; this we take only as an ex- 
pression of their continued enmity to the ministry, a plain 
calumny and untruth. 

Fourthly. They charge our Commissioners with breach of 
covenant, in not keeping those honorable terms, which they 
yielded upon, which also is a flat untruth; for the grand 
condition, which they insisted upon in their surrender, it 
was, that they should go down with our Commissioners, un- 
bound, and have safe conduct; which they had, not being 
bound but in that respect, as much at liberty in the journey 
as any of ours. 

Fifthly. They complain of hard fare and hard work, 
which we suppose it may be ranked with the former, for they 
had their diet from the cook's, as good meat and drink as 
the place atlorded; and if they were sentenced to grind in 



243 

the mill, wliicli \vc do not roincmbcr that they were ever 
put upon it, but found better entcitainincnt. 

Sixthly. They complain oi" oppression by taking away 
cattle, &c. The cattle taken were not near sufficient to de- 
fray their charges, but some part of it has since been paid 
out of tiic country treasury, upon the country account. 

Seventhly. They complain, we maintain the Indians 
upon their land, planting, burning, killing, &c. unto this 
day, which is also notoriously not so; for whilst those In- 
dians were under this Government, if they had been so 
injurious to our own countrymen, the Court would soon 
have alForded redress to any complaint, and have provided 
as much as in them lay, for their indemnity; and fur- 
ther the Government here have, for causes them thereunto 
moving, many years since, withdrawn their protection both 
from the English and Indians in those parts; therefore, they 
do not maintain them to this day. Hence it appears noto- 
riously, to any impartial eye, that this petition, for the most 
part of it; is a composition of . 

Lastly. Whereas they charge this Government with ex- 
ercising power beyond their jurisdiction and bounds, &.c. 
making themselves lords of the land, &.c. First, we reply, 
not sole lords of the land, for we have studiously endeavor- 
ed to keep His Majesty's peace, both with and in, all His 
Majesty's other Colonies here settled and established in an 
orderly way of government, maintaining always an amica- 
ble correspondency as their fellow subjects; and we solemn- 
ly profess, that not the least ground of this transaction with 
Gorton and his company, was the preservation of the public 
weal and peace in His Majesty's other Colonies; and there- 
fore not the sole lords of the land; too peremptory an ex 
pression to be presented in a petition to His Majesty's 
Honorable Commissioners; which we suppose their Honors 
could not choose but to take notice of, at least as an extrav- 
agancy of speech. Secondly. We reply that although that 
tract of land which they possessed, were not within our line, 
yet it was, upon very strong probabilities, supposed to be 
within the bounds of Plymouth patent, their bounds not be- 
ing then precisely determined; and therefore this Govern- 
ment, having taken the protection of the Indians of that 
land, they desired this Government to make provision for 
their indemnity, and wholly transferred the matter to us. 
Thirdly. We reply, that all the Commissioners of His Maj? 



214 

esty's United Colonies, taking notice of Gorton and liis 
company, as common enemies to the public weal, looking 
upon their actings to be of very dangerous consequence, 
thought it necessary so far to concern themselves in it, as to 
pass an act whereby to encourage this Government to cor- 
rect the insolency of the said Gorton and his company; 
which act of theirs was long since printed and published in 
the aforesaid book, bearing date, September 7, 1643; in 
which act, is this expression, "The Commissioners for the 
United Colonies think fit that the magistrates in the Massa- 
chusetts proceed with them according to what they find 
just, and the rest of the jurisdictions will approve and con- 
cur in what shall be so warrantably done, as if the Commis- 
sioners had been present at the Conclusions, &.c." Thus 
the Commissioners, whereby all the Governments concerri 
themselves in the same common design against the common 
enemy. Fourthly. Their professed principles of anarchy, 
before mentioned, with their unruly rejection of all Gov- 
ernments, rendered them incapable to be proceeded withal 
in any other way of justice; for if they did at any time men- 
tion appeals, it was rather to escape present penalty, than 
out of any real devotion to government, unto which they had 
openly professed themselves to be enemies. Fifthly. The 
said Gorton and company declaring themselves open ene- 
mies to all governments, and in a more especial manner not 
being ashamed nor afraid to declare themselves to be at 
open enmity with this Government of His Majesty's Colony 
of the Massachusetts, and growing up to a formidable 
height, as to a capacity to manage their principles into dan- 
gerous attempts, not only upon this, but other His Majesty's 
Colonies, which they had, to their utmost, already done, es- 
pecially there being in those times so much the predominan- 
cy of a spirit of anarchy in the world; we say, this consid- 
ered, which was the true state of things in those times, what 
could we do less, in defence of His Majesty's interest with 
us, and our own peace, than to endeavor, the timely sup- 
pression of a growing mischief of such dangerous tendency ; 
His Majesty's Royal Charter encouraging of us to make 
our defence, by all lawful ways and means whatsoever, 
against all such persons who shall attempt or enterprise the 
destruction, invasion, detriment or annoyance of this, His 
Majesty's plantation. Again, one special end of the grant- 
ing of our charter, was the conversion of the natives, in 



245 

these terms, " Whereby our said people^ inhiibitnnts there, 
may be so religiously, peaceably governed, as their good 
life and orderly conversation, may win and invite the natives 
of the country to the knowledge of the true God and Sav- 
iour of mankind, and the Christian faith; which in our Roy- 
al intention, and the adventurers' free profession is the 
principal end of this plantation;" this being one jirincipal 
end in His Majesty's royal intention, what could this Gov- 
ernment do less, in duty to God and His Majesty, but in 
pursuance of this so high an end, improve His Majesty's 
authority committed them, at least for the protection of the 
poor natives from the oppression of such of our nation, 
whose principles and practices were, and still are, a scan- 
dal and opprobrium of our religion, amongst the poor na- 
tives, and this also, when they did so importunately solicit 
our help. We only add, that many, if not most, of those 
who were personally concerned in that affair, are passed off 
the stage of action; and have, we doubt not, many of them 
given a comfortable account, as to the sincerity of their in- 
tentions for God's glory and this country's good, in that ac- 
tion; and ourselves surviving, when we most solemnly re- 
volve and turn over these matters long ago passed, to- 
gether with the several circumstances of those times and 
things, we cannot but judge, that their offences were of so 
high a nature, that their penalty was rather beneath than 
above the merit of their offences; did we not so believe and 
judge, we should not presume to exhibit this reply. 

If his Majesty, notwithstanding, by his princely wisdom 
observe any circumstantial error in this matter, we hope out 
of his princely grace, he willindulge it; and still, by his pro- 
pitious aspect, countenance and encourage his faithful sub- 
jects here, in the suppression of such insolent and turbulent 
spirits; that so we may quietly and peaceably live, to fear 
God and honor the King. 

The magistrates have passed this, with reference to the 
consent of their brethren, the deputies hereto. 

EDWARD RAWSON, Sec'ry. 
William Torrey, Cleric. 

[Mass. Records.] 

[The only answer that I have been able to find to the 
foregoing Petition and Reply, is in the following letter, cop- 
ied from Chalmers Political Annals, page 196,] 



246 



Mr. Gorton: — 

These gentlemen of Boston would make us believe, that 
they verily think, that the King has given them so much 
power in their charter, to do unjustly, that he reserved 
none for himself, to call them to an account for doing so. 
In short, they refuse to let us hear complaints against them; 
so that, at present, we can do nothing in your behalf. But 
I hope, shortly, to go for England; where, if God bless me, 
thither; I shall truly represent your sufferings and your 
loyalty. 

Your assured friend, 

GEO. CARTWRIGHT. 

Boston, 26 May, 1665. 



No. XI. 

Letter from Samuel Gorton to JYathanid Morton. 

Nathaniel Morton: — 

I understand you have lately put forth a book of records. 
But this I know, that I am unjustly enrolled; because I was 
never free, nor member incorporate, in your body, or any of 
your territories; therefore I may not refrain to make a short 
return, only as it concerns myself. 

And first, your peremptory judging of one you know not, 
for I am a stranger to you. 

My second word concerns your eminency, in assuming 
authority to canonize and put into the number of saints, 
such men when they are dead, who in their life time, were 
persecutors, especially you have acknowledged them to be 
such yourself; as also to thrust down under your feet, and 
make as brute beasts, having only hope in this present life, 
such as are known to be fearers of God, worshiping him in- 
stantly, day and night; though they be not acknowledged to 
be such by some particular sectaries as yourself. 

A third word I have to say, concerns your record. Mis- 
take me not. I meddle not with your records, further than 
they concern myself. I then affirm, that your record is 
fetched from him who is a liar from the beginning — in that 
you declare, that I have spoken words, or to that effect, 
that there is no state or condition of mankind after this life. 
I do verily believe, that there is not a man, woman or child 



247 

upon the face of the earth, that will come forth and say, 
that over they heard any such words come from my mouth; 
and I appeal to God, the judge of all secrets, that there 
was never such a thought entertained in my heart. 

And whereas you say, I am become a sordid man in my 
life; I dare be so bold as to lay my conversation among 
men, to the rules of humanity, with any minister among you, 
in all the passages of my life, which God hath brought me 
through, from my youth unto this day, that it hath been as 
comely and innocent as his. Whose ox or whose ass have 
I taken; or when or where have I lived upon other men's 
labors, and not wrought with my own hands, for things hon- 
e.st in the sight of men, to eat my own bread? 

A fourth word I have to say to your pamphlet, concerns the 
stuff, as you sottishly and contemptuously call it. You may 
be ashamed to put pen to paper, to publish any thing to the 
world in shew of religion, not acknowledging the letter of the 
scripture, but deriding it rather. For the rest of those ex- 
pressions which you charge upon us, you falsely apply them. 
We never called sermons of salvation, tales; nor any ordi- 
nances of the Lord, an abomination or vanity; nor holy min- 
isters, necromancers; we honor, reverence and practise 
these things. And, however you term me a belcher out of 
errors, I would have you know, that I hold my call to preach 
the Gospel of Christ, not inferior to any minister in this 
country, though I was not bred up in the schools of human 
learning, and I bless God, that I never was; lest I had 
been drowned in pride and ignorance, through Aristotle's 
principles and other heathen philosophers, as millions are, 
and have been, who ground their preaching of the Gospel, 
upon human principles, to the falsifying of the word of God, 
in the ruin of men's souls. Yet this I doubt not of, but 
that there hath been as much true use made of the languages, 
within these twenty years past, in the place wherein I live, 
as hath been in any church in New-England: I know the 
manner of your preaching well. 

When I was last in England, through importunity I was 
persuaded to speak the word of God publicly, in divers and 
eminent places as any were then in London, as also about 
London, and places more remote; many times the ministers 
of the places being hearers, and sometimes many together, 
at appointed lectures in the country. I have spoken in the 
audience of all sorts of people and personages under the ti- 



248 

tie of a Bishop or a King, and was invited to speak in the 
presence of such as had the title of Excellency, and was 
lovingly embraced wherever I came, in the word uttered, 
with the most eminent Christians in the place; and for leave- 
taking at our departure, not unlike the ancient custom of the 
saints on record in the Holy Scripture; and I dare say, as 
evident testimony of God's power going forth with his word 
spoken, manifested, as ever any in New-England had; pub- 
licly and immediately after the word delivered, the people 
giving thanks to God that ever such a word came to be utter- 
ed among them, with entreaty for stay and further manifesta- 
tion, in as eminent places as are in England, where myself 
did know that Doctors of note had formerly preached, and 
at that time, such as had more honor put upon them than or- 
dinarily preachers have, who gave me the call thither, in way 
of loving and christian fellowship, the like abounding in the 
hearers: Therefore I know not, with what New-England is 
leavened or spirited. Indeed, once in London, three or four 
malignant persons caused me to be summoned before a 
Committee of Parliament, because I was not an University 
man; I appeared, and my accusers also, one of them a 
schoolmaster in Christ's Hospital, another or two elders of 
Independent or separated Churches, who were questioned 
of what they had against me. They said I had preached. 
Divers of the Committee answered, that was true, they had 
heard me. The Chairman asked of my accusers, what I 
had said.'' They could not repeat any thing; but said, they 
were sure I had made the people of God, sad. But the 
sum of all their accusation was brought out of a book, which 
they said, contained divers blasphemies. The book was 
only that which was printed at the proceedings of the Mas- 
sachusetts against myself and others. The Honored Com- 
mittee took the book, and divers of them looked upon it, and 
found no such thing there as they ignorantly suggested; and 
though my adversaries could say nothing, but only vent 
their spleen, crying out upon blasphemy; yet the Chair- 
man and divers of the board, knights and other gentlemen, 
questioned me about my call to preach, and other principal 
points in religion; and 1 answered to all of them according 
to my knowledge and conscience. Then my accusers de- 
sired Mr. Winslow might be called forth, whom they had 
procured to appear there; whom they thought would oppose 
me strongly, with respect to that book. Wh(Mi he came out 



249 

of the crowd, for there was a multitude of people, the place 
being spacious, he spake judiciously and manlike, desiring 
to be excused, for he had nothing to say to me in that place, 
his business with me lay before another Committee of Par- 
liament; wliich gave the table good satisfaction. My an- 
swers and arguments were honorably taken by the Chair- 
man and Iherest of the Committee, and myself dismissed as 
a preacher of the Gospel. Shortly after, eminent preach- 
ers, living remote i'rom London, then present, sent unto me 
kind gratuiations, for my arguments used and answers giv- 
en before that Committee. Which act of that Committee, 
I take to be as good a human call to preach, as any of your 
ministers have; and other call I know none they have. And, 
for a human call, I think mine to be as good as the degrees 
in the schools, or to pass under the hands and ceremonies 
of a titular bishop, or under the natural hands of a titular 
eldership, or to have the call of a people, by the power of 
stipend or contribution, without one of which, no contract; 
all which 1 account as human at the best. 

A fifth word I have to say, is in that you send your read- 
er to a book printed by Mr. Edward Winslow, for a more 
full and perfect intelligence. Mr. Winslow and myself had 
humanlike correspondency in England, and before the Hon- 
orable Committee which he referred himself to, as above; 
and not to wrong the dead, I saw nothing to the contrary, 
but that I had as good acceptation in the eyes of that Com- 
mittee as himself had, although he had a greater charter 
and larger commission out of these parts, than myself then 
had, and however he was a man of more eminent parts than 
myself, yet the goodness and justness of my cause did 
equalize myself unto him in those occasions, both in the 
minds and demeanors of our superiors. I do profess, I do 
not know or remember any particulars, in that book he then 
put forth; I saw it in London, but read little of it, and 
when I came over into these parts, my ancient acquaintance 
and friend, Mr. John Brown, discoursing with me about 
those affairs in England, told me he had read such a book, 
printed or put forth by Mr. Winslow. I told him I had 
seen it, but read very little of it. Mr. Brown, you know, 
was a man approved of among you, an Assistant in your 
Government, a Commissioner for the United Colonies, &c. 
who thus spake unto me in our discourse; I will not per- 
vert nor alter a word of the will or words of the dead; I 



250 

say, he affirmed thus unto me; tliat he would maintain, that 
there were forty lies printed in that book. 

Per me, SAMUEL GORTON. 

Warwick, June 30, 1G69. 

[Hutcliinpon's Hist.] 



No. XII. 



Ord'mance of Parliament, appointing the Committee for For- 
eign Plantations. 
An Ordinance of the Lords and Commons, assembled in 
Parliament; whereby Robert, Earl of Warwick, is made 
Governor-in-chief, and Lord High Admiral, of all those 
Islands and Plantations, inhabited, planted, or belonging 
to any of His Majesty's, the King of England's subjects, 
within the bounds, and upon the coasts of America: 
And a Committee appointed to be assisting unto him, for the 
better governing, strengthening and preservation of the 
said Plantations; but chiefly for the advancement of the 
true Protestant Religion, and further spreading of the 
Gospel of Christ, among those that yet remain there in 
great and miserable blindness and ignorance. 
Whereas, many thousands of the natives, and good sub- 
jects of this Kingdom of England, through the oppression 
of the prelates and other ill-affected ministers and officers of 
State, have, of late years, been enforced to transplant them- 
selves and their families into several islands, and other re- 
mote and desolate parts of the West Indies; and having 
there, through exceeding great labor and industry, (with 
the blessing of God) obtained for themselves and their fami- 
lies, some competent and convenient means of maintenance 
and subsistence, so that they are now in a reasonable, well- 
settled condition; but fearing lest the outrageous malice of 
Papists and other ill-affected persons, should reach unto 
them, in their poor and low, but as yet, peaceable condition, 
and having been informed that there hath been lately pro- 
cured from His Majesty, several grants under the great 
seal, for erecting some new Governors and Commanders 
amongst the said planters, in this aforementioned plantations, 
whereupon the said planters, adventurers and owners of land 
in the said foreign plantations, — have preferred their petition 
unto this present Parliament; that for the better securing 



251 

orUiciii unii their prcsoul estates, llicrc obtained througliso 
iiuieh extreme labor and didiculty, they might have some 
such Governors and Governments, as slionkl be approved of 
and confirmed, by the authority of both houses of Parlia- 
ment. Which i)ctition of theirs, the Lords and Commons 
have taken into consideration; and finding it of great impor- 
tance, both to the safety and preservation of the aforesaid 
natives and subjects of this kingdom, as well from all for- 
eign invasions and oppressions, as from their own intestine 
distractions, and disturbances; as also much tending to the 
honor and advantage of His Majesty's dominions, have 
thought tit, and do hereby constitute and ordain, Robert, 
Earl of Warwick, Governor-in-chief, and Lord High Admi- 
ral of all those islands and other plantations, inhabited, 
planted or belonging, to any of his Majesty's the King of 
England's subjects; or which hereafter maybe inhabited, 
planted or belonging to them, within the bounds, and upon 
the coasts of America. And for the more effectual, speedi- 
er and easier transaction of this so weighty and important 
a business, which concerns the well being and preservation 
of so many of the distressed natives of this and other his Maj- 
esty's dominions, the Lords and Commons have thought fit, 
that Philip, Earl of Pembroke; Edward, Earl of Manches- 
ter; William, Viscount Say and Seal; Philip, Lord Whar- 
ton; John, Lord Roberts, members of the house of Peers; 
Sir Gilbert Gerard, Knight and Baronet; Sir Arther Hes- 
elrige, Baronet; Sir Henry Vane Junior, Knight ; Sir Ben- 
jamin Rudyer, Knight; John Pym, Oliver Cromwell, Den- 
nis Bond, Miles Corbet, Cornelius Holland, Samuel Vas- 
sal, John RoUes and William Spurstow, Esquires, menibers 
of the house of Commons, shall be Commissioners to join in, 
aid and assist with the said Earl of Warwick, Chief Governor 
and Admiral of the said plantations, which Chief Governor, 
together with the said Commissioners or any four ot^them, 
shall hereby have power and authority to provide for, or- 
der and dispose all things which they shall from time to 
time find most fit and advantageous to the well governing, 
securing, strengthening and preserving of the said plan- 
tations; and chiefly to the preservation and advancement 
of the true Protestent Religion amongst the said plan- 
ters, inhabitants; and that the further enlargement and 
spreading of the gospel of Christ amongst those that yet 
remain there in great and miserable blindness and ignor- 
ance. And for the better advancement of this so great a 



252 

work, it is hereby I'urtlier ordained by the said Lords and 
Commons, that the aforesaid Governor and Commissioners 
shall hereby have power and authority, upon all weighty 
and important occasions which may concern the good and 
safety of the aforesaid planters, to call unto their advice and 
assistance therein, any other of the aforesaid planters, own- 
ers of land or inhabitants of the said islands and plantations, 
which shall then be within twenty miles of the place where 
the said Commissioners shall then be; and shall have power 
and authority, to send for, view and make use of all such 
records, books and papers, which do or may concern, any 
of the said plantations. And because the well settling and 
establishing of such officers and governors, as shall be la- 
borious and faithful in the right governing of all such per- 
sons as be resident in or upon the said plantations, and due 
ordering and disposing of all such affairs as concern the 
safety and welfare of the same, is of very great advantage 
to the public good of all such remote and new plantations, 
it is hereby further ordained and decreed, that the said Rob- 
ert, Earl of Warwick, Governor-in-chief and Admiral of the 
said plantations, together with the aforesaid Commission- 
ers, Philip, Earl of Pembroke; Edward, Earl of Manches- 
ter; William, Viscount Say and Seal; Philip, Lord Whar- 
ton; John, Lord Roberts; Sir Gilbert Gerard, Knight and 
Baronet; Sir Arthur Heselrige, Baronet; Sir Henry Vane 
Junior, Knight; John Pym, Oliver Cromwell, Dennis Bond, 
Miles Corbet, Cornelius Holland, Samuel Vassal, John 
Rolles and William Spurstow, Esquires, or the greater num- 
ber ofthem, shall have power and authority, from time to 
time, to nominate, appoint and constitute all such subordi- 
nate governors, counsellors, commanders, officers and a- 
gents, as they shall judge to be best afiected and most fit 
and serviceable for the said islands and plantations; and 
shall hereby have power and authority upon the death or 
other avoidance of the aforesaid Chief Governor and Ad- 
miral, or any other Commissioners before named, from time 
to time, to nominate and appoint such other chief governor 
and admiral or commissioners in the place or room of such 
as shall so become void. And shall also hereby have pow- 
er and authority to remove any of the said subordinate gov- 
ernors, counsellors, officers or agents, which are or shall be 
appointed to govern, counsel or negotiate the public affairs 
of the said plantations; and in their place and room, to ap- 
point such olhcr officers as they shall judge fit, And it is 



253 

Jicreby ordained that no subordinate governors, counsellors, 
eoniMianders, olHcers, agents, planters or inhabitants what- 
soever, that are now resident in or upon the same islands or 
plantations, shall admit or receive any other new governors, 
counsellers, commanders, oflicers, or agents whatsoever, 
but such as shall be allowed and approved ol'under the hands 
and seals of the aforementioned commissioners, or any six 
of them, or under the hands and seals of such as they shall 
authorize thereunto. 

And whereas for the better government and security of 
the said plantations or islands, and the owners and inhabi- 
tants thereof, there may be just and (it occasion to assign 
over some part of the power and authority (granted irx this 
Ordinance to the chief Governor and Commissioners afore- 
named) unto the said owners, inhabitants or others; it is here- 
by ordained, that the said Chief Governor and Commission- 
ers before mentioned, or the greater number of them, shall 
be authorized to assign, ratify and confirm so much of their 
aforementioned authority and power, and in such manner, 
and to such persons as they shall judge to be fit, for the bet- 
ter governing and preserving of the said plantations and 
islands, from open violence, and private disturbaiice and 
distractions. 

And lastly, whosoever shall do, execute or yield obe- 
dience to any thing contained in this Ordinance, shall by 
virtue hereof, be saved harmless and indemnified. 

[Haz. Hist. Col.] 

[This Act was passed, Nov. 2, 1643, as will appear by ref- 
erence to the charter granted under it, to the colonists of 
Providence Plantations, Appendix, No. XVII. 



No. XIII. 



Indian Deed of Shawomet. 
Know all men; that I, Myantonomy, Chefe Sachem of the 
Nanheyganset, have sold unto the persons heare named, 
one parcell of lands with all the rights and privileges there- 
of whatsoever, lyinge upon the west side of that part of the 
sea called Sohomes Bay from Copassnetuxet, over against 
a litle iland in the sayd Biiy, beingo the North bounds, and 
the outmost point of that neck of land called Shawhomett, 



254 

beinge tlie South bounds from the sea shore of each bound- 
ary, upon a straite line westward twenty miles. I say I 
have truly sold this parcell of land above said, the propor- 
tion whereof is according to the mapp under written or 
drawne, beinge the forme of it, unto Randall Houlden, 
John Greene, John Weeks, Francis Weston, Samuel Gor- 
ton, Richard Waterman, John Warner, Richard Carder, 
Samson Shotton, Robert Potter, William Wuddall, for one 
hundred and forty 4 fathom of Wampum-peage, I say I 
have sold it, and possession of it given unto the men above- 
sayd, with the free and joynt consent of the prisent inhabi- 
tants, being natives, as it appeares by their hands hereunto 
annexed. Dated the twelfth day of January, 1642. Be- 
inge enacted upon the abovesaid parcell of land, in the 
presence off 

TOTANOMANS, MYANTONOMEY. 

His b^ marke. 

PUMHAM, Sachem of Showhomet, 

His ^limBBi marke. 
JANO, 

His tf* marke. 

JOHN GREENE. 

The above written is a true Coppy of the origenali, en- 
tred and recorded. 

Per JOHN SANFORD, Recorder. 
True copy of record. 

Witness, HENRY BOWEN, Sec'ry. 

[Records State of Rhode-Island.] 




No. XIV. 



JVill made by the Town Council of Providence, for jyicholas 

Poiver. 
Providence, the 27lh May, 1667. 
Whereas, we, the Council of the Town aforesaid, are au- 
thorized by the law of this, His Majesty's Colony of Rhode- 
Island and Providence Plantations, to take care of the es- 



255 

tales of such persons as die intestate; and forasmuch as 
Nicliolas Power, an inhabitant of this town, deceased this 
life, the 25th of August, 1657, and by reason of extreme 
sickness and sudden death, made no will in writing, and 
considering how necessary a thing it is, a will be made, for 
the peace and safety of all those concerned in it, and in 
obedience to the law to the said end, not questioning but the 
former councils of the town, observed no cause to question 
or mistrust any embezzlement of what the said Nicholas left 
behind him, nor do we; yet forasmuch as application is 
made to us, and before this time hath not been to the form- 
er councils, by his widow, and considering that the children 
grow near the age of possessing, therefore that we may pre- 
vent differences before they begin, therefore by His Majes- 
ty's authority, committed to us to the same end, make and 
draw up a will, instead of the deceased man's will, having 
information what the said Nicholas left behind him. 

[The Will then goes on, and disposes of part of the real 
and personal estate of the deceased, to the widow, part for 
life, and part in fee. The remainder is divided between the 
son and daughter, and given to them in fee tail general with 
cross remainders; and closes with the following attestation.] 
Witness our hands and seals. 

WILLIAM CARPENTER, jiTs:] 

WILLIAM HARRIS, liTs.! 

THOMAS HARRIS, lE^l 

ROGER WILLIAMS, 

THOMAS OLNEY, Sen. 



[Providence Records.] 

[Can it be believed, after this, that Williams was a law- 
yer, educated \inder Sir Edward Coke?] 



No. XV. 

Submissio^i of Pumham and Sacononocco to the Massac hii.seHs. 

This writing is to testify, that we, Pumham, Sachem of 
Shawomock, and Sacononocco, Sachem of Paluxet, Sec 



256 

have, and by these presents do, voluntarily, and without 
any constraint or persuasion, but of our own free motion, 
put ourselves, our subjects, our lands and estates, under 
the government and jurisdiction of the Massachusetts; to 
be governed and protected by them, according to their just 
laws and orders, so far as we shall be made capable of un- 
derstanding them; and we do promise, for ourselves and our 
subjects and all our posterity, to be true and faithful to the 
said Government, and aiding to the maintenance thereof, to 
our best ability; and from time to time, to give speedy no- 
tice of any conspiracy, attempt or evil intention of any, 
which we shall know or hear of, against the same; and we 
do promise to be willing, from time to time, to be instructed 
in the knowledge and worship of God. In witness whereof, 
&c. [Sav. Winthrop.] 

[Upon this subject, the learned and impartial editor of 
that work remarks; " We may rejoice in the benevolence, 
which attempted the civilization and conversion to Christ- 
ianity of these Indians, and certainly must honor the Gov- 
ernment, whose liberal treaty with their confederates is so 
diverse from the usual terms of stipulation with the natives; 
but it may be feared, that there was too much human policy 
at work in obtaining their subjection; and we must acknowl- 
edge that a terrritorial usurpation beyond the limits of our 
charter, was the result, if not the motive, of the negotiation. 
Yet, the act of submission in June, could not invalidate the 
deed of January preceding."] 



No. XVI. 



Extract from the " IVonder-ivorking Providence of Sion^s Sav- 
ioiir in JS'ew-England. ' ' 

Of the proceedings of certain persons called Gortonists, 
against the United Colonies, and more especially against 
the Massachusetts, and of the blasphemous doctrines 
broached by Gorton, deluding a company of poor ignorant 
people therewith. 

For not long before, those persons that we spake of, who 
encouraged Miantonomi to this war, and with the help of 
him, enforced Pumham and Sacononocco, to set their hands 
to a writing which these Gortonists had framed, to take their 



257 

lauds iVoin tliom; hut llio poor Sachems, wliPii llioy .sa\v 
they were thus gulled ofthcir land, would take no pay lor it, 
but complained to the Massachusetts Government, to whom 
they had subjected themselves and (heir lands: As also at 
this time certain English inhabiting those parts, with the 
Indians, good leave and liking, desired to have the benefit 
of the Massachusetts Government, as Dover formerly had 
done, to whom this Government condescended, in hope 
they might increase to such a competent number of godly 
Christians, as there might be a Church of Christ planted; 
the place being capable to entertain them in a comfortable 
measure for outward accommodation; but hitherto it hath 
been hindered by these Gortonists, and one of Plymouth, 
who forbad our people to plant there. These persons thus 
submitting, came at this time also, to complain of certain 
wrongs done tlicm by these Gortonists, who had thus en- 
croached and began to build on the Indians' land: Upon 
these complaints, the Governor and the lionored Mr. Dud- 
lev, issue forth their warrant, to summon them to appear, 
they being then about live or six persons, without any 
means of instructing them in the ways of God, and without 
any civil government to keep them in civility or humanity, 
which made them to cast off, most proudly and disdainfully, 
any giving account to man of their actions, no not to the 
chiefest in authority, but returned back most insolent, scorn- 
ful, scurrilous speeches. After this the Government of the 
Massachusetts sent two messengers on purpose to persuade 
them to come and have their cause heard, assuring them 
like justice in their cause with any other. But Samuel 
Gorton, being the ringleader of the rout, was so full gorg- 
ed with dreadful and damnable errors, the which he had 
newly ensnared these poor souls with, that soon after the 
departure of the messenger, he lays aside all civil justice, 
and instead of returning answer to the matter in hand, he 
vomits up a whole paper of beastly stuff, one while scoffing 
and deriding the ignorance of all beside himself, that think 
Abraham, Issac, Stc. could be saved by Jesus Christ, who 
was after born of the Virgin JMary, another while mocking 
at the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, in an 
opprobrious manner deriding at the elements Christ was 
pleased to institute them in, and calling them necromancers 
that administer them at all; and in a word all the ordinan- 
ces of the Gospel, al)ominablp idolatry he called and lik- 
o* 



258 

ened them to Molocli and the star of the idol Remphan; his 
paper was thrust full of such iilthiness, that no Christian ear 
could hear them without indignation against them, and all 
was done by him in a very scornful and dcridingfrnanner, 
upbraiding all that use them; in the meantime magnifying 
his own glorious light, that could see himself to be person- 
ally Christ, God-man, and so all others that would believe as 
he did. This paper he got to be subscribed with about 
twelve or thirteen hands, his number of disciples being in- 
creased, for assuredly the man had a very glossing tongue, 
but yet very deceitful; for when he had but a few with him, 
then he cried out against all such as would rule over their 
own species; affirming that the Scriptures term such to be 
gods of the world, or devils; but after his return frorn Eng- 
land, having received some encouragement from such as 
could not look into the depth of his deceit, being done at so 
large a distance, he getting into favor again with those who 
had formerly whipt him out of their company, turns devil him- 
self. The godly Governors of the Massachusetts, seeing this 
blasphemous bull of his, resolved to send forty persons well 
appointed with weapons of war, for apprehending of him; 
who, accordingly, with some waiting, did apprehend him 
with the rest of his company, except two or three which ran 
away, without any hurt to any person, although he gave out 
very big words, threatening them with blood and death so 
soon as they set foot on the ground; and yet this brazen- 
faced deceiver published in print, the great fear their 
women were put unto by the soldiers; whereas they came 
among them day by day, and had it not been that they in- 
tended peaceably to take them, they would never have 
waited so long upon their worships as they did, but being 
apprehended and standing to that they had written, yet 
would they willingly have covered it with some shifts, if 
they could: the greatest punishment they had, was to be 
confined to certain towns for a few months, and afterwards 
banished; but to be sure there be they in New-England 
that have Christ Jesus and his blessed ordinances in such 
esteem, that the Lord assisting, they had rather lose their 
lives, than suffer them to be thus blasphemed, if they can 
help it. And whereas some have favored them, and endeav- 
ored to bring under blame, such as have been zealous 
against their abominable doctrines, the good God be favora- 
ble unto them, and prevent them from coming under the 



259 

like hlanio witliAhab; yet tlicy rciuain in their old way, 
and there is somewhat to be considered in it, to be sure, 
that in these days, wlien all look for the fall of Antichrist, 
such detestable doctrines should be upheld, and persons 
sufl'ered, that exceed the Beast himself in blasphemy; and 
this to be done by those that would be counted reformers, 
and such as seek the utter subversion of Antichrist. 

[Thus far, the author of " Wonder-wor-king Providence 
of Sion's Saviour in New-England," a work to be consulted 
by the curious reader, rather than by him who seeks for ac- 
curacy in details, for elegant narration, or for harmonious 
poetry. It was to be expected that Johnson, who was one of 
the Commissioners of the JMassachusetts, would have narrat- 
ed all the particular of the capture of this arch heretic; how 
he has done this, the reader has seen. Can one be surprized 
that the "Gortonists" refused to have the complaints against 
them tried by Massachusetts, when the author of the fore- 
going chapter was selected by that Government, as a Com- 
missioner to examine into them? If he was chosen as a 
proper person to commend "the moderation and justice" 
of Massachusetts, were they not justified in refusing it.''] 



No. XVII. 

Charter to Providence Planlations. 

Whereas, by an ordinance of the Lords and Commons 
now assembled in Parliament, bearing date the 2d day of 
November, Anno. Dom. 1643. Robert, Earl of Warwick, 
is constituted and ordained Governor-in-chief and Lord 
High Admiral of all those Islands and other Plantations, 
inhabited or planted, by or belonging to any of his Majes- 
ty, the King of England's subjects, or which hereafter may 
be inhabited or planted by or belong to them, within and 
upon the coast of America. And whereas, the said Lords 
and Commons, have thought fit, and thereby ordained that 
Philip, Earl of Pembroke; Edward, Earl of Manchester; 
William, Viscount Say and Seal; Philip, Lord Wharton; 
John, Lord Rolle; Members of the house of Peers; Sir 
Gilbert Gerard, Baronet; Sir Arthur Haselrige, Baronet; 
Sir Henry Vane Jr. Knight; Sir Benjamin Rudyer, Knight, 
John Pym, Oliver Cromwell, Dennis Bond, Miles Corbet; 



260 

Cornelius Holland, Samuel Vassal, John Ilollc and Will- 
iam Spurstovv, Esq'rs. Members of the house of Commons, 
should be Commissioners, to join aid and assistance with 
the said Earl. And whereas for the better governing and 
preserving of the said plantations, it is thereby ordained, 
that the aforesaid Governor and Commissioners, or the 
greater number of them, should have power and authority 
from time to time, to nominate, appoint and constitute, all 
such subordinate Governors, Counsellors, Commanders, 
officers and agents, as they shall judge to be best afTected, 
and most fit and serviceable to govern the said islands and 
plantations, and to provide for, order and dispose all things 
therein, as they shall from time to time find most advantageous 
for the said plantations, and for the better security of the 
owners and inhabitants thereof; to assign, ratify and con- 
firm so much of their aforementioned authority and power, 
and in such manner and to such persons as they shall judge 
to be fit for the better governing and preserving of the said 
plantations and islands from open violence, and private dis- 
turbance and distraction. And whereas there is a tract of 
Land in the continent of America aforesaid, called by the 
name of the Narragansett Bay, bordering North and North- 
East on the Patent of the Massachusetts, East and South- 
East on Plymouth patent, South on the Ocean, and on the 
West and North-West, inhabited by the Indians called Nar- 
rogameucks, alias, Narragansetts; the whole tract exten- 
ding about twenty and seven English miles unto the Pequot 
River and country. And whereas divers well affected and 
industrious English inhabitants of the towns of Providence, 
Portsmouth and Newport, in the tract aforesaid, have ad- 
ventured to make a nearer neighborhood to, and society 
with, that great body of the Narragansetts, which may in 
time, by the blessing of God upon their endeavor, lay a sur- 
er foundation of happiness to all America; and have also 
purchased, and are purchasing of and amongst the natives, 
some other places, which may be convenient both for plan- 
tations, and also for the building of ships, supply of pipe- 
staves and other merchandize. And whereas, the said En- 
glish have represented their desires to the said Earl and 
Commissioners, to have their hopeful beginning approved 
and confirmed by granting unto them a free charter of civil 
incorporation and government, that they may order and gov- 
ern their plantations in such manner as to maintain justice 



i2GI 

and peace, bolli amongst tliemselves ami towartls all men, 
with whom they sliall have to do. 

In due consideration of the premises, the said Robert, 
Earl of Warwick, Govenor-in-chicf and Lord High Admi- 
ral of the said plantations, and the greater number of the 
said Commissioners, whose names and seals are here under 
written and subjoined, out of a desire to encourage the good 
beginning of the said planters, do, by the authority of the 
said ordinance of Lords and Commons, give, grant and con- 
firm unto the aforesaid inhabitants of the towns of Provi- 
dence, Portsmouth and Newport, a full and absolute Char- 
ter of Civil Incorporation to be known by the name of the 
Incorporation of Providence Plantations, in the Narragan- 
sett Bay in New-England; together with full power and 
authority to govern and rule themselves and such others as 
shall inhabit within any part of the said tract of land, by 
such a form of civil government as by voluntary consent of 
all or the greater part of them, they shall find most service^ 
able in their estate and condition; and for that end, to make 
and ordain such civil laws and constitutions, and to inflict 
such punishments upon transgressors, and for execution 
thereof to place and displace officers of justice, as they or 
the greater part of them, shall by free consent, agree unto. 

Provided, nevertheless; that the same laws, constitutions 
and punishments, for the civil government of the said plan- 
tation, be conformible to the laws of England, so far as the 
nature and constitution of the place will admit; and always 
reserving to the said Earl and Commissioners, and their 
successors, power and authority for to dispose the General 
Government of that, as it stands in relation to the rest of 
the plantations in America, as they shall comrnissionate from 
time to time, most conducing to the general good of the 
said plantations, the Honor of His Majesty, and the ser- 
vice of the State. 

And the said Earl and Commissioners, do fiirther author- 
ize the aforesaid inhabitants, for the better transacting their 
public affairs, to make and use a public seal, as the Ivnown 
seal of Providence Plantations, in the Narragansett Bay in 
New-England. 

In testimony whereof the said Robert, Earl of Warwick, 
and Commissioners, have hereunto set their hands and seals, 
the seventeenth day of March, in tlic nineteenth year of the 



262 



reign of our Sovereign Lord, King Charles, and in the year 
of our Lord God, 1643. 

ROBERT, Warwick, IlTsI 



PHILIP, Pembroke, 


|L.S.| 


WILLIAM, Say and Seal, 


-|L.S.l 


PHILIP, Wharton, 


|L.S.| 


ART. HASELRIGE, 


|L. S.| 


H. VANE, Jr. 


|L. S.j 


COR. HOLLAND, 


]L.S.| 


SAM. VASSAL, 


\hll\ 


JOHN ROLLE, 


|L. S.| 


MILES CORBET, 


|L.S.| 


W. SPURSTOW. 


|L. S.| 



No. XVIII. 

Letter from Gorton and his Company, to Massachusetts. 

From our Neck, Curo, September 15, 1643. 
To the great and honored Idol General, now set up in the 
Massachusetts, whose pretended equity in distribution of 
justice unto the souls and bodies of men, is nothing else but 
a mere device of man, according to the ancient custom and 
sleights of Satan, transforming himself into an angel of 
li^ht, to subject and make slaves of that species or kind 
that God hath honored with his own image; (read Dan. 3d 
chap.) Wherein, if it be not like Lot's door unto the Sod- 
omites, you may see the visage or countenance of your 
State; for we know the sound of all your music, from the 
highest note of wind instruments sounding or set up by the 
breath or voices of men, to have dominion and rule as though 
there were no God in heaven or in earth, but they, to do 



263 

right unto the sons of men; unto the lowest tunes ofyour 
stringed instruments, subjecting themselves to hand or skill 
of the devised ministrations of men, as though God made 
man to be a vassal to his own species; for he may as well be 
a slave to his belly, and make it his God, as to any thing 
that man can bring forth; yea, even in his best perfection; 
who can lay claim to no title or term of honor, but what the 
dust, rottenness and putrefaction can afford; for that of 
right belongeth solely to our Lord Christ. Wo, therefore, 
unto tl\e world, because of the idols thereof, for idols must 
needs be set up; but wo unto them ])y whom they are erect- 
ed. 

Out of the abovesaid principles, which is the kingdom of 
darkness and of the devil, you have writ another note unto 
us, to add to your former pride and folly, telling us again, 
you have taken Pomham with others, into your jurisdiction 
and Government, and that upon good grounds, as you say. 
You might have done well to have proved yourselves Chris- 
tians, before you hat! mingled yourselves with the heathens; 
that so your children might have known how to put a dis- 
tinction betwixt you and them, in after times; but we per- 
ceive that to be too hard a work for yourselves to perform, 
even in time present. But if you will communicate justice 
and government with that Indian, we advise you to keep 
him amongst yourselves, where he and you may perform 
that worthy work. Yet upon a better ground, we can in- 
form you, that he may not expect former courtesies from us; 
for now, by your note, we are resolved of his breach of cove- 
nant with us, in this his seeking and subjection unto you, 
which formerly he hath always denied. Let him and you 
know, therefore; that he is to make other provision for his 
planting of corn hereafter, than upon Mashawomet; for we 
will not harbor amongst us, any such fawning, lying and ca- 
daverous person, as he is, after knowledge of him as now 
in fact you have given unto us; only he shall have liberty 
sufficient to take away his corn, habitation, or any of his 
implements, so be it he pass away in peace and quiet; which 
might in no case be admitted, if it were so that we lived by 
blood as you do, either through incision of the nose, division 
of the ear from the head, stigmaties upon the back, suffoca- 
tion of the veins, through extremity of cold, by your banish- 
ments in the winter, or strangled in the flesh with a halter. 
l?u( wo know our course, professing the kingdom of (ioD 



264 

and his righteousness; renouncing that of darkness and the 
Devil, wherein you delight to trust; for without the prac- 
tice ofthe.se things, you cannot kiss your hand, bless your 
idol, nor profess your vows and offerings to be paid and per- 
formed. Oh, ye generation of vipers; who hath forewarned 
you or forestalled your minds with this, but Satan himself, 
that the practise of these things is to flee from the wrath to 
come? Whereas the very exercise and performance of 
them, is nothing else but the vengeance and wrath of God 
upon you already; in that mankind so harmonically made in 
the image of God, is in the exercise of your kingdom, be- 
come the torturer and tormenter, yea, the executioner of 
itself, whilst those of you who are of the same stock and 
stem, work out, yea, and that curiously, through the law of 
your minds, the death and destruction of one another; 
whereas in the mean time, the same nature or subsistence in 
the way of our Lord Jesus, saves both itself and others. 
You tell us of complaints made by the Indians, of unjust 
dealings and injuries done unto them: why do they not 
make them known unto us.'' They never complained to us 
of anything done unto this day, but they had satisfaction to 
the full, according to their own mind; for oft we know in 
what they express unto us, although our wrongs insuffera- 
ble, done by them, lie still in the dark. For we know very 
well, we have plenty of causeless adversaries, wanting no 
malice that Satan can inject; tlierefore we suffer much, that 
in the perfection and height of their plots, they may receive 
the greater rebuke, and shame for their baseness, in the 
eyes of all the world. To which end, we have not only com- 
mitted our condition unto writings, but (put) them also into 
the hands and custody of such friends, from whom they 
shall not be taken by any or all the governments of this 
country, as formerly they have been; that so our wrongs 
might not appear. Therefore, never pick a quarrel against 
us in these things, for we know all your sleights and devic- 
es, that being you now want such as old malicious Arnold, 
one of your low-stringed instruments, to exercise his fiddle 
arnono-st us, and we are void of your Benediction also, 
ppruno- out of the same stock, to make rents and divisions 
for you to enter, to gain honor unto yourselvs, in having 
patients to heal, though they lie never so long under your 
liands, your chirurgery must be thought never the worse. 
Wiintini^ therse or su(;l/likc of the English to betray the lib- 



2().3 

cities (ion halh given us, unto your hands, now you work by 
your coadjutors, these accursed Jndians. But you arc de- 
ceived in us. Wc are not a cup fitted lor your so eager appe- 
tite, no otherwise than if you take it down, it sliall prove un- 
to you a cup of trembling, either making you vomit out your 
own eternal shame, or else to burst in sunder, like your fel- 
low confessor for iiire, Judas Iscariot. For Mr. VVinthrop and 
his co-partner, I'arker, may not think to lay our purchased 
plantation, to their island so near adjoining; for they come 
too late in that point, though Benedict hath reported, that 
INliantonomi, one of the Sachems of whom we bought it, 
should lose his head for selling his right thereof to us. As 
also a minister affirmed, that JNlr. Winthrop should say to 
him, that we should either be subjected unto you, or else 
removed hence, though it should cost blood. Know, there- 
fore, that our lives are set apart already, for the case we 
have in hand; so, we will lose nothing hut what is put apart 
aforehand. Bethink yourselves, therefore, what you should 
gain, by fetching of them, in case it were in your power, for 
our loss should be notliing at all. For we are resolved, that 
according as you put forth yourselves towards us, so shall 
you find us transformed to answer you. If you put forth 
your hands to us as countrymen, ours are in readiness for 
you — if you exercise your pen, accordingly do we become a 
ready writer — if your sword be drawn, ours is girt upon our 
thigh — if you present a gun, make haste to give the first 
fire, for we are come to put fire upon the earth; and it is our 
desire to have it speedily kindled. 

For your pursuit of us still to come to your Courts to re- 
ceive your parcels of justice; undoubtedly either God hath 
blinded your eyes that you see not our answer formerly giv- 
en in that point; or else you are most audacious, to urge it 
upon us again; also, you may take notice, that we take in 
more disdain than you could do, in case we should impor- 
tune you, yea, the chief among you, to come up to us and 
be employed according to our pleasure, in such works as 
we thought good to set you about; and for your grant of 
freedom unto us, to come down to you and return in safety, 
we cannot sufficiently villify this your verbal and perfuncto- 
ry offer; knowing very well, according to the verdict of 
your own conscience, that what wrongs soever are passed 
amongst us since our coming into this country, you have 
been the violent agents and we the patients. To fear, 
r 



266 

therefore; to come amongst you as such as have done wrong, 
the case vanisheth in us, so must the effect also. And to 
fear to come unto you as tyrants which your grant must nec- 
essarily imply, that we cannot; knowing that he that is with 
us is stronger than he that is in you. Also the earth is the 
Lord's and the fulness thereof; and when and where he 
shall call, we will go; but not at the will and lust of sorry 
man, to play their parts with us at their pleasure, as form- 
erly they have done, and as it is apparent you desire to do; 
for if your lusts prevailed not over you in that kind, you 
might well think, that we have better employments than to 
trot to the Massachusetts, upon the report of a lying Indian 
or English either, as your factors and ordinary hackneys 
do. But know this, oh ye, that so long as we behave our- 
selves as men, walking in the name of our God, wherever 
we have occasion to come, if any mortal man whose breath 
is in his- nostrils, dares to call us in question, we dare to give 
answer to him or them; nor shall we fail, through God, to give 
testimony, even in his own conscience, of the hope that is in 
us, whether his question may concern the rise or succession 
either of priest or peer. In the mean time, we sit under the 
cloudy pillar, while the nations roar and make a noise about 
us; and though you may look upon us with the unopened 
eye of Elias's servant, thinking us as nothing to those that 
are against us, yet wherever the cloudr rest, we know the 
Lord's return to the many thousands of Israel. In that you 
say our freedom granted to come unto you, takes away all 
excuse from us, we freely retort it upon yourselves to make 
excuses, whose laws and proceedings with the souls and 
bodies of men, is nothing else but a continued act, like the 
horse in the mill, of accusing and excusing; which you do 
by circumstances and conjectures, as all your fathers have 
done before you, the diviners and necromancers of the 
world, who are gone to their own place, and have their re- 
ward. But for the true nature, rise and distribution of 
things, as they are indeed, and shall remain and abide as a 
law, firm and stable forever, we say and can make it good, 
you know nothing at all. Therefore, such as can delight 
themselves in preaching, professing and executing such 
things, as must end as the brute beasts do, nay take them 
away for the present, and they have lost their honor, religion 
as also their God, let such, we say, know themselves to be 
that beast and false prophet, no man of God, at all. In the 



2(>7 

mean time, we look not on the things that arc seen, but on 
the tilings that are not seen knowing, the one, as temporary 
and the other, eternal. Nor do we think the better of any 
man for being invested into i)laces, or things that will in 
time, wax old, as doth a garment; neither judge we the 
worse of any man for the want of them, for if we should, we 
must condemn the Lord Christ, as so many do at this day. 

We demand, when we may expect some of you to come 
up to us, to answer and give satisfaction for some of those 
foul and inhuman wrongs you have done, not to the Indians, 
but to us your countrymen; not to bring in a catalogue, as 
we might, take this one particularly above you are now act- 
ing, in that you abet and back these base Indians to abuse 
us. Indeed Pomham is an aspiring person, as becomes a 
prince of his profession; f)r having crept into one of our 
neighbor's houses, in the absence of the peoi)le, and felon- 
iously rifled the same, he was taken, coming out again at 
the chimney top. Sacononocco also, hath entered in like 
manner into one of our houses, with divers of his compan- 
ions, and breaking open a chest, did steal out divers parcels 
of goods, some part whereof, as some of his companions have 
affirmed, are in his custody at this time. Yet we stand still, 
to see to what good issue you will bring your proceedings 
with these persons by whom you are so honorably attended 
in the Court General, as you call it, and would honor us al- 
so to come three or four score miles to stand by you and 
them; we could tell you also, that it is nothing with these 
fellows, to send our cattle out of the woods with arrows in 
their sides, as at this present it appears, in one even now so 
come home; and it is well they come home at all; for some- 
times their wigwams can receive them, and we have nothing 
of them at all. Yea, they can domineer over our wives and 
children, in our houses, when we are abroad about our nec- 
essary occasions; sometimes throwing stones to the endan- 
gering of their lives, and sometimes violently taking our 
goods, making us to run for it, if we will have it; and if we 
speak to them to amend their manners, they can presently 
vaunt it out, that the Massachusetts is all one with them, 
let the villainy they do, be what it will ; they think them- 
selves secure; for they look to be upheld by you, in whatev- 
er they do, if you be stronger than them which they have to 
deal with all. And they look with the same eye yourselves 
doj thinking the multitude will bear down all, and persuade 



2G8 

themselves, as well they may, tliat as you tolerate and inain- 
tain them in other of their daily, practices; as lying, Sab- 
bath-breaking, taking of many wives, gross whoredoms and 
fornications; so you will do also in their stealing, abusing of 
our children and the like; for you have your diligent ledg- 
ers here among them, that inculcate daily upon this, how 
hateful we are unto you, calling us by other names of their 
own devising, bearing them in hand, we are not English- 
men, and therefore the object of envy of all that are about 
us; and that if we have any thing to do with you, the very 
naming of our persons shall cast our case, be it what it will; 
as it is too evident, by the case depending between Wil- 
liam Arnold and John Warner; that no sooner was the name 
of Mr. Gorton mentioned amongst you, but Mr. Dudley dis- 
dainfully asking, ''Is this one, joined to Gorton?" and Mr. 
Winthrop, unjustly upon the same speech, refused the oath 
of the witness, calling him "knight of the post." Are these 
the ways and persons you trade by, towards us.^ Are these 
the people you honor yourselves withal.'' The Lord shall 
lay such honor in the dust, and bow down your backs with 
shame and sorrow to the grave, and declare such to be apos- 
tatizers from the truth, and falsifiers of the word of Gor>, 
only to please men and serve their own lusts, that can give 
thanks in their public congregations, for their unity with such 
gross abominations as these. We must needs ask you an- 
other question, from a sermon now preached amongst us; 
namely how that blood relisheth, you have formerly sucked 
from us, by casting us upon straights above our strength, 
that have not been exercised in such kinds of labors, no 
more than the best of you in former times, in removing us 
from our former conveniences, to the taking away of the 
lives of some of us; when you are about your dished-up 
dainties, having turned the juice of a pooi , silly grape, that 
perisheth in the use of it, into the blood of our Lord Jesus, 
by the cunning skill of your magicians, which doth mad and 
drunk so many in the world; and yet a little sleep makes 
them their own men again; so can it heal and pacify your 
consciences at present; but the least hand of God, returns 
your fears and terrors again. Let our blood, we say, pre- 
sent itself together herewith. You hypocrites, when will 
you answer such cases as these? And we do hereby prom- 
ise unto you, that we will never look man in the face, if you 
have not a fairer hearing than ever we had amongst you 



269 

or cau ever expect. And be it known to you all, that we 
are your own countrymen, whatever you report of us; 
thougli the Lord hath taught us a language you never spoke, 
neither can you liear it; and that is the cause ofyour alie- 
nation from us. For as you have mouths, and speak not; so 
have ye ears, and hear not. So we leave you to the judg- 
ment and arraignment of God Almighty. The joint act, 
not of the General Court, but of the peculiar fellowship 
now abiding upon Mshawomet. 

RANDALL HOLDEN. 

POSTSCRIPTUM. 

We need not put a seal unto this our warrant, no more 
than you did to yours. The Lord hath added one to our 
hands, in the very conclusion of it, in that effusion of blood 
and horrible massacre, now made at the Dutch plantation, 
of our loving countrymen, women and children, which is 
nothing else but the complete figure, jn a short epitome of 
what we have written, summed up in one entire act; and lest 
you should make it a part of your justification, as you do all 
such like acts, provided they be not upon your own backs, 
concluding them to be greater sinners than yourselves; we 
tell ye, nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise 
perish. For we ask you, who was the cause of Mrs. Hutch- 
inson, her departure from amongst you ? was it voluntary.^ 
No: she changed her phrases according to the dictates of 
your tutors, and confessed her mistakes, that so she might 
give you content to abide amongst you; yet did you ex- 
pose her and cast her away. No less are you the origi- 
nal of her removal from Aquetneck; for when she saw her 
children could not come down among you, no, not to confer 
with you in your own way of brotherhood, but be clapt up 
and detained with so long imprisonment; rumors, also, be- 
ing noised about, that the island should be brought under 
your government, which if it should, they were fearful of 
their lives, or else to act against the plain verdict of their 
own consciences, having had so great and apparent proof of 
your dealings before; as also the island being at such divis- 
ions within itself; some earnestly desiring it should be de- 
livered into your hands, professing their unity with you; 
others denied it, professing their division and dissent from 
you; though for what, themselves know not, but only their 
aboininal)le pride to exercise the like tyranny. 



270 

From these and such like workings, having their oriu^iual 
in you, she gathered unto herself, and took up this fiction, 
with the rest of her friends, that the Dutch plantation was 
the city of refuge, as she had gathered like things from your 
doctrines before, when she seemed to hold out some glimp- 
ses or glances of light more than appeared elsewhere, whilst 
there was such to approve it, in whom there might be some 
hope to exalt the instruments thereof higher than could be 
expected from others. But you know very well, you could 
never rest nor be at quiet, till you had put it under a bushel, 
id est, bounded and measured the infinite and immense 
word of God, according to your own shallow, human and 
carnal capacities; which however it may get the highest 
seats in your synagogues, synods and Jewish sanhedrims, 
yet it shall never enter into the Kingdom of God, to be a 
door keeper there. Do not, therefore, beguile yourselves, 
in crying out against the errors of these so miserably fallen; 
for they are no other things which they hold, but the branch- 
es of the same root yourselves so stoutly stand upon. But 
know this, that now the axe is laid to the root of the tree 
whereof you are a part: and every tree that bringeth not 
forth good fruit, according to the law of that good thing which 
the father knows how to give to those that ask it, shall be 
cut down and cast into the fire. Neither do you fill up 
your speeches or tales, we mean your sermons. But we 
affect not the idolizers of words, no more than persons 
or places; for yourselves know the word, is no more but a 
bruit or talk, as you know also your great and terrible word, 
magistrate, is no more in its original than masterly or mas- 
terless, which hath no great lustre in our ordinary accep- 
tation. Therefore we look to find and enjoy the substance, 
and let the ceremony of these things, like vapor, vanish 
away, though they gather themselves into clouds without 
any water at all in them. The Lord is, in the mean time, a 
dew unto Israel, and makes him to grow like a lilly, casting 
out his roots and branches in Lebanon. We say, fill not up 
your talk as your manner is, crying, that she went out with- 
out ordinances, for God can raise up out ofthat stone which 
you have already rejected, as children, so also ministers 
and ordinances unto Abraham. You may remember also, 
that every people and poor plantation formerly fleeced by 
you, cannot reach unto the hire of one of your tenets, or 
fetch in one such dove as you send abroad into our native 



271 

country, to carry and bring yo\i news. Nor can you cliargc 
them in that point, tor it was for protection and government 
they went: and however hire in other respects, yet the 
price of a wife and safety of his own life adjoined, carried a 
minister along with them of the same rise and breeding, to- 
gether with your own, to add unto the blood so savagely 
and causelessly spilt, with which a company of such as you 
take pleasure to protect* for they are all of one spirit, if 
they have not hands in the same act. We say their death 
is causeless: for we have heard them affirm, tliat they would 
never heave up a hand, no, nor move a tongue against any 
that persecuted or troubled them; but only endeavor to save 
themselves by llight, not perceiving the nature and end of 
persecution; neither of that anti-christian opposition and 
tyranny, the issue whereof declares itself in this so dread- 
ful and lamentable asportation [Four words illegible.] 

[Mass. Hist. Soc. Col.] 



No. XIX. 



Gov. Winthrop's Account of Gorton^s Trial, Sfc. 

[Gov. Winthrop gives the following account of the trial, 
&.C. of Gorton. See 2d vol. Sav. Wint. p. 142, &c.] 

Captain Cooke and his company, which were sent out 
against Gorton, returned to Boston; and the captives, being 
nine, were brought to the Governor his house, in a military 
order, viz. the soldiers being in two files, and after every 
five or six soldiers, a prisoner. So being before his door, 
the Commissioners came in, and after the Governor had sa- 
luted them, he went forth with them, and passing through 
the files, welcomed them home, blessing Goo for preserv- 
ing and prospering them, and gave them all thanks for their 
pains and good carriage, and desired of the Captain a list of 
their names, that the Court, &c. might know them, if here- 
after there should be occasion to make use of such men. 
This good acceptance and commendation of their service 
gave many of them more content than their wages, (which 
yet was very liberal, ten shillings per week, and they to 
victual themselves; and it is needful in all such Common- 
wealths, where the State desires to be served by volun- 
teers.) Then having conferred privately with the Commis- 
sioners, he caused the prisoner.s to be brought before him, in 



272 

iiis hall, where was a great assembly; and there laid before 
them their contemptuous carriage towards us, and their obsti- 
nacy against all the fair means and moderation we had used 
to reform them and bring them to do right to those of ours 
whom they had wronged, and how the Lord had now justly 
delivered them into our hands. They pleaded, in their ex- 
cuse, that they were not of our jurisdiction; and that though 
they had now yielded themselves to come and answer before 
us, yet they yielded not as prisoners. The Governor re- 
plied, they were brought to him as taken in war, and so our 
Commissioners had informed; but if they could plead any 
other quarter or agreement our Commissioners had made 
with them, we must and would perform it; to which they 
made no answer. So the Governor committed them to the 
Marshal, to convey to the common prison; and gave order 
they should be well provided for, both for lodging and diet. 
Then he went forth again with the Captain; and the soldiers 
gave him three vollies of shot, and so departed to the inn, 
where the Governor had appointed some refreshing to be 
provided for them, above their wages. 

The next Lord's Day in the forenoon, the prisoners would 
not come to the meeting, so as the magistrates determined 
they should be compelled. They agreed to come, so as 
they might have liberty, after sermon, to speak, if they had 
occasion. The magistrates' answer was, that they did leave 
the ordering of things in the Church to the elders, but there 
was no doubt but they might have leave to speak, so as 
they spake the words of truth and sobriety. So in the af- 
ternoon they came, and were placed in the fourth seat, right 
before the elders. Mr. Cotton (in his ordinary text) taught 
them out of Acts 19. of Demetrius pleading for Diana's sil- 
ver shrines or temples. Sue. After sermon, Gorton desired 
leave to speak; which being granted, he repeated the points 
of Mr. Cotton's sermon, and coming to that of the silver 
shrines, he said that in the Church there was nothing now 
but Christ; so that all our ordinances, ministers, sacraments, 
&c. were but men's inventions for show and pomp, and no 
other than those silver shrines of Diana. He said also 
that if Christ lived eternally, then he died eternally; and it 
appeared both by his letters and examinations that he held 
that Christ was incarnate in Adam, and that he was that 
image of God wherein Adam was created; and that the 
chief work and merit was in that his incarnation; in that he 



273 

became such a thing, so mean, &c. and that his being born 
after, of the Virgin Mary and suttering, &.c. was but a man- 
ifestation of his sufferings, kc. in Adam. Likewise in his 
letters he condemned and reviled magistracy, calling it an 
idol, alleging that a man might lb well be a slave to his 
belly, as to his own species: yet being examined, he would 
acknowledge magistracy to be an ordinance of God in the 
world, as marriage was, viz. no other magistracy but what 
was natural, as the father over his wife and children, and an 
hereditary prince over his subjects. 

When the General Court was assembled, Gorton and his 
company were brought forth upon the lecture-day, at Bos- 
ton, and there, before a great assembly, the Governor de- 
clared the cause and manner of our proceeding against 
them, and their letters were openly read, and all objections 
answered. As 1 . That they were not within our jurisdiction. 
To this was answered. 1. That they were either within 
Plymouth or Mr. Fenwick, and that they had yielded their 
power to us in this cause. * 2. If they were underno juris- 
diction, then had we none to complain unto, for redress of 
our injuries; and then we must either right ourselves and 
our subjects by force of arms, or else we must sit still under 
all their reproaches and injuries, among which they had this 
insolent passage: — "We do more disdain that you should 
send for us to come to you, than you could do, if we should 
send for the chiefest among you to come up to us, and be 
employed according to our pleasure in such works as we 
should appoint you." 

As for their opinions, we did not meddle with them for 
those, otherwise than they had given us occasion by their 
letters to us, and by their free and open publishing them 
amongst us; for we wrote to them only about civil contro- 
versies between them and our people, and gave them no oc- 
casion to vent their blasphemings and revilings, &c. And 
for their title to the Indians' land, we had, divers times, de- 
sired them to make it appear; but they always refused, 
even to our Commissioners, whom we sent last to them; 
and since they were in prison, we offered to send for any 
witnesses they would desire, but still they refused; so that 
our title appearing good, and we having now regained our 

• How far Plymouth or Mr. Fenwick assented to these proceedings, or had 
yielded their power, can be ascertained by referring to Appendix, No. 7. — S. 

P* 



274 

possession, we need not question them any more about that. 
Their letters being read, they were demanded, severally, if 
they would maintain those things which were contained 
therein. They answered, they would, in that sense wherein 
they wrote them. 

After this, they were brought before the Court severally 
to be examined, (divers of the elders being desired to be 
present,) and because they had said they could give a good 
interpretation of all they had written, they were examined 
upon the particular passages. But the interpretation they 
gave being contradictory to their expressions, they were de- 
manded then if they would retract those expressions, but 
that they refused, and said still that they should then deny 
the truth. For instance, in one or two; their letters were 
directed, one to their Neighbors of the Massachusetts, and 
the other of them to the Great Honored Idol General of the 
Massachusetts; and by a messenger of their own, delivered 
to our Governor: and many passages in both letters particu- 
larly applied to our courts, our magistrates, our ciders, &c. 
yet in their examinations about their reproachful passages, 
they answered, that they meant them of the corrupt estate 
of mankind in general, and not of us, Stc. So whereas in their 
letters they impute it to us as an error, that we teach that 
Christ died actually only when he suffered under Pontius 
Pilate, and before only in types, upon their examination, 
they say, that their meaning was, that his death was actual 
to the faith of the fathers under the law; which is, in effect, 
no other than we hold; yet they account it an error in us, 
and would not retract that charge. One of the elders 
had been in the prison with them, and had conferred with 
them about their opinions, and they expressed their agree- 
ment with him in every point, so as he intended to move for 
favor for them; but when he heard their answer upon their 
examination, he found how he had been deluded by them; 
for they excel the Jesuits in the art of equivocation, and re- 
gard not how false they speak to all other men's apprehen- 
sions, so they keep to the rules of their own meaning. Gor- 
ton maintained, that the image of God, wherein Adam was 
created, was Christ; and so the loss of that image was the 
death of Christ, and the restoring of it in regeneration, was 
Christ's resurrection; and so the death of him that was 
born of the Virgin Mary, was but a manifestation of the 
former. In their letters, &c. they condemned all ordinan- 



■^ I O 

CCS 111 llic Cluuch, calling Baptism an abomination, and the 
Lord's Supper, the juice of a poor silly grape, turned into 
the blood of Christ by the skill of our magicians, Stc. Yet 
upon examination, they would say they did allow them to be 
the ordinances of Christ; but their meaning was, that they 
were to continue no longer than the infancy of the Church 
lasted, (and but to novices then,) for after the revelation 
was written they were to cease ; for there is no mention of 
them, say they, in that book. 

They were all illiterate men; the ablest of them could not 
write true English, no, not common words; yet they would 
take upon them the interpretation of the most difficult places 
of Scripture, and wrest them any way, to serve their own 
turns: as to give one instance for many. Mr. Cotton, 
pressing them with that in Acts 10. "Who can forbid wa- 
ter, why these should not be baptized? so he commanded 
them to be baptized," they interpret thus. Who can deny 
but these have been baptized, seeing they have received 
the Holy Ghost, &,c. so he allowed them to have been bap- 
tized. This shift they were put to, that they might maintain 
their former opinion, that such as have been baptized with 
the Holy Ghost, need not the outward baptism. 

The Court and the elders spent near a whole day in dis- 
covery of Gorton's deep mysteries, which he had boasted 
of in his letters, and to bring him to conviction; but all was 
in vain. Much pains was also taken with the rest, but teas 
little effect. They would acknowledge no error or fault in 
their writings, and yet would seem sometimes to consent 
with us in the truth. 

After all these examinations, the Court began to consult a- 
bout their sentence. The judgment of the elders also had been 
demanded about their blasphemous speeches and opinions, 
what punishment was due by the word of God. Their an- 
swer was first in writing, that if they should maintain them 
as expressed in their writings, their offence deserved death, 
by the law of God. The same, some of them declared, after, 
in open court. But before the Court would proceed to de- 
termine of their sentence, they agreed first upon their charge, 
and then calling them all publicly, they declared to them 
what they had to charge them with, out of their letter and 
speeches. Their charge was this, viz. They were charg- 
ed to be blasphemous enemies of the true religion of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, and of all his holy ordinances, and like- 



27() 

wise of all civil government among his people, and particu- 
larly within this jurisdiction. Then they were demanded 
whether they did acknowledge this charge to be just, and 
did submit to it, or what exceptions they had against it. 
They answered, they did not acknowledge it to be just, but 
they took no particular exceptions to it, but fell into some 
cavilling speeches; so they were returned to prison again. 
Being in prison, they behaved insolently towards their keep- 
er, and spake evil of the magistrates. Whereupon some of 
the magistrates were very earnest to have irons presently 
put upon them. Others thought it better to forbear all such 
severity till their sentence were passed. This latter opin- 
ion prevailed. 

After divers means had been used, both in public and 
private, to reclaim them, and all proving fruitless; the Court 
proceeded to consider of their sentence, in which the Court 
was much divided. All the magistrates, save three, were 
of opinion that Gorton ought to die; but the greatest num- 
ber of the deputies dissenting, that vote did not pass. In 
the end, all agreed upon this sentence, for seven of them, 
viz, that they should be dispersed into seven several towns, 
and there kept to work for their living; and wear irons upon 
one leg; and not to depart the limits of the town; nor by 
word or writing, maintain any of their blasphemous or wick- 
ed errors; upon pain of death; only with exception for speech 
with any of the elders, or any other licensed, by any magis- 
trate to confer with them; this censure to continue during 
the pleasure of the court.* 

* Silence might, perhaps, become the commentator on this lamentable de- 
lusion; but this narrative almost defies the power of comment, to enhance or 
mitigate the injustice of our Government. It is some consolation, how- 
ever, that three of the magistrates and a majority of the deputies, rejected 
the horrible judgment of the elders, that the offences deserved death. Ridi- 
cule they might have deserved, but neglect would have been the most ap- 
propriate sentence. We cannot doubt, that our fathers thought the prisoners 
were justly within our jurisdiction ; and this first error led to the invasion of 
their humble colony, which ought to have been as secure from process, as 
ours was from them. After the usurpation, the civil wrong, which was the 
first pretence of complaint, seems to have merged in their theological pravi- 
ty. Our rulers assumed the right of proceeding against them as heretics, 
because we had injuriously acquired the power of inquiry into the title of 
their lands. The consummation of the tyranny I extract from our records, 
11. p. 39—41: 

" Upon much examination and serious consideration of your writings, 



277 

There were three more taken in the house with them, but 
because they had not their hands to the letters, they were 
dismissed; two of them upon a small ransom, as captives 
taken in war, and the third freely, for that he was but in his 
master's house, &c. A fourth, being found to be an igno- 

with your answers about them, we do charge you to be a blaspchmous ene- 
my of the true religion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his holy ordinances; 
and also of all civU authority among the people of God, and particularly in 
tliis jurisdiction. 

"It is ordered, that Samuel Gorton shall be confined to Charlestown, 
there to be set on work, and to wear such bolts or irons, as may hinder his 
escape; and to continue during the pleasure of the Court; provided that if he 
shall break his said confinement, or shall in the mean time, either by speech 
er writing, publish, declare or maintain, any of the blasphemous or abomi- 
nable heresies, wherewith he hath been charged by the General Court, con- 
tained in either of the two books sent unto us by him, or Randall Houlden; 
or shall reproach or reprove the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ, in these 
United Colonies; or the civil Government, or the public ordinances of God 
therein; (unless it be by answer to some question propounded to him, or 
conference with any elder, or with any other, licensed to speak with him 
privately, under the hand of one of the Assistants;) that immediately upon 
accusation of any such writing or speech, he shall, by such Assistant to whom 
such accusation shall be brought, be committed to prison, till the next Court 
of Assistants, then and there to be tried by a jury, whether he hath so spok- 
en or written, and upon his conviction thereof, shall be condemned to death 
and executed. Dated the 3d of the 9th mo. 1643. 

" John Wickes, Randall Houlden, Robert Potter, Richard Carder, Fran- 
cis Weston and John Warner, are confined upon the same conditions. John 
Wickes, to Ipswich; Randall Houlden, to Salem; Robert Potter, to Row- 
ley; Richard Carder, to Roxbury; Francis Weston, to Dorchester, and 
John Warner to Boston. All these are upon same conditions that Samuel 
Gorton, abovenamed, is. 

" William Waddell is confined to Watertown, during the pleasure of the 
Court; and if he escape, ti) be punbhed, as this Court, or the Court of As- 
sistants shall think meet. 

" Richard Waterman is dismissed for the present, so that what is taken of 
his is to go toward payment of the charge, and the rest of his estate is bound 
in an 100 pounds, that he shall appear at the General Court, the 3d mo.; 
and not to depart without license, and to submit to the order of the Court. » 

"Nicholas Power appearing, and denying that he set his hand to the first 
book, was dismissed with an admonition." 

•Ihe General Court holden on the 29th of the 3d month, (May) 16-14, 
passed the following order, in relation to Waterman: 

" Richard Waterman being found erroneous, heretical and obstinate, it 
was agreed that he should be detained prisoner till the Quarter Court in the 
7th month, (September) unless five of the magistrates do find cause to send 
him away, which, if they do, it is ordered, he shall not return within this 
jurisdiction upon pain of death." — S. 



278 

rant young man, was only enjoined to abide in Watertown, 
upon pain of the Court's displeasure only. 

At the next Court; they were all sent away, because we 
found that they did corrupt some of our people, especially the 
women, by their heresies. 

About a week after, we sent men to fetch so many of their 
cattle as might defray our charges, both of the soldiers and 
of the Court, which spent many days about them, and for 
their expenses in prison. It came to, in all, about 160 
pounds. There were three who escaped out of the house; 
these being sent for; to come in, two of them did so and one 
of them, because his hand was not to the letters, was freely 
discharged; the other was sent home upon his own bond to 
appear at the next Court, {only some of his cattle were 
taken towards the charges.) There was a fourth, who had 
his hand to the first letter, but he died before our soldiers 
Avent, and we left his whole estate \o his wife and children. 
Their arms were all taken from them; and of their guns, the 
Court gave one fowling piece to Pomham and another to 
Sacononocco, and liberty granted them to have powder, as 
being now within our jurisdiction. 



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